What are the core skills/interventions you must do well as a HH nurse?

Hello there, Sterlink ! Welcome to AN, and to the HH forum.

Lots of wound care skills, IV abx infusions, lab draws.. actually, there are pages of threads and posts here on the HH forum.. I'd say just take your time and browse through them. You'll probably find the answers to any questions you might have to help you come to a decision about HH. Enjoy, and hope you find what you need !

yep- what jnette said. If it's done on med-surg, its done in the home...and then some! But...assessment is huge, as well as teaching and trouble shooting. Learning to adapt to the patient's environment rather than having the patient adapt to the hospital is often the biggest difference in HH nursing. It's challenging at times, but I wouldn't trade it for any other kind of nursing

Agree with what was previously said. Assessment, teaching, and trouble shooting. That about covers all the bases.

I can't believe no one said communication. We have to be able to communicate effectively with patients, physicians, nurses, medical assistants, therapists, and everyone in between. I hate to see a note from a home health nurse that has things spelled wrong or grammatical errors, especially when it's being faxed to a doc. Your handwriting has to be legible as well as the content understandable. You have to be able to ask for what you want/need in such a way that others believe it to be their own idea.

Excellent point! In home care you have to make the docs feel like it is their idea...in hospice the docs expect you to make recommendations. Regardless, docs want your communications to be organized, concise, and accurate.

One of my employers ignores written communications as well as phone coversations from the nurses, so I suppose one could write just about anything and it would fail to get noticed.

gee caliotter3, wouldn't want to be a patient with your home care agency if they ignore the communications from the nurses.