With Emergency Nurses Week™ fast approaching, we couldn’t help but think about how much critical care nurses contribute to home health care in Florida. This is especially the case with those that work hard in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties satisfying the important, medical certified needs of our most fragile clients. And that’s not all. Becoming an emergency or critical care nurse who provides exceptional, in-home care isn’t easy either.

To get to that point, many registered nurses spend years in the classroom and working hands on in critical care, medical-surgical and step-down units first. Then they eventually make their way into the realm of home health. The majority say that making the switch to home health care services in Florida is a rewarding one for several reasons. The reason cited most often is the opportunity to continually work one-on-one with patients and their families.

In an emergency room setting, registered nurses don’t have that option. They generally stay with a patient long enough to provide temporary stabilization and then transfer him or her to another department. In a home health care setting, transfers generally only happen if the patient and his or her family request a change in caregivers. Thus, critical care nurses who provide in-home care are frequently better able to help patients avoid hospital readmissions and negative, long term outcomes than their triage unit counterparts.

In addition, emergency nurses that choose to work in Florida’s home health care system can also help their patients in other ways. For example, they can often spot the onset of a life-threatening medical situation before aides that may not have as much training. They are also well-equipped to reduce a patient’s pain and provide families with a better understanding of the situation at hand.

To learn more about the importance of emergency nurses and how to retain their services for stay-at-home patients, please contact us today.