Private Duty Home Health Nurse Question .

[Jannie]

Hi , I have question for my home health nurses. I currently work with a disabled child and he has a PT that comes to train me every Monday to do her job the rest of the week . As a nurse I know we are supposed to help with ADLs and ROM but I feel like actually doing a PTs job is too much and not within my scope . Correct me if I'm wrong . 

[Rhainebo, LPN]

I make sure to keep up with any therapies needed for my patients as this is the best way to ensure that they are actually making progress. Doing physical therapy once per week would just be a waste of time for everybody. Every time I get a plan of care, therapy goals are included and the HH nurse is expected to implement what we can into our daily care. If you don't feel safe doing the therapies correctly, I'd speak with the agency about it.

[Ludwig Pan Needhoven]

Hello,

If this is a private duty scenario, I agree with the previous post. If this is a home health scenario with multiple weekly nurse visits, the patient might qualify for 2-3 PTA visits/week.

[Jannie]

Sorry , it was private duty . I eventually left the family . My pt didn't qualify for full time PT because he wasn't making improvements. I did do what I could during my care but it became to the point they wanted me to do actual therapy that wasn't within my scope of practice . I couldn't even sit down to chart it was always . Therapy , therapy therapy  & it sometimes it required two ppl and they wanted me to do it alone . He was 90lbs btw . 

[Ludwig Pan Needhoven]

Sounds like some of the duties you were asked to perform may have been unsafe.

Safety trumps everything.