No matter who in your home is in need of additional care, choosing a home nursing service can be an overwhelming decision to make. While the right home health care provider will ensure that the patient in question receives personal, sympathetic and high-quality care, it can be hard for family members to navigate which is the best.
There are plenty of options on the market, as home nursing services can be administered by a wide array of trained individuals.
Here are five tips for choosing a home nursing service.
- Be sure of what you need from the service
Whether it is for yourself, or for a loved one, there are a variety of scenarios where having professional home nursing services is beneficial, if not necessary. Some of these include:
- Primary companion care: A valuable choice for seniors who live on their own and may be isolated from others.
- Rehabilitative Care: Usually helpful after an injury, illness, or medical condition, a rehabilitative care worker works to promote activities and lifestyle changes that can assist in stopping additional injuries and enhancing overall health and well-being.
- Maternity, Newborn and Premature Care: This form works with you to ensure you and your baby have the additional support required to begin a healthy, thriving life together after you leave the hospital (including making sure you take care of yourself, too, by eating right, taking supplements to restore your health and energy, getting plenty of rest, and finding time to exercise).
- Stroke Patients Care: After rehabilitation, support services may be required to guarantee continued recovery. This care may include speech-language therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, or mental health counseling.
- In-Home Child-Care: If your home requires additional help, in-home child-care ensures that your children are receiving care in a setting that is intimate to them.
Before you begin the preliminary research for home nursing services, make sure you know what exactly you will need from the service.
- Ask around for recommendations
The best way to start exploring a home nursing service is by asking around your network. There is a good chance that a family you know has also been through a similar circumstance and therefore has some recommendations.
Trusting a stranger to care for yourself or for a loved one in a time of need is indeed a leap of faith, but knowing that someone comes recommended by someone you already trust will do a lot to calm those nerves.
- Narrow down your potential list
Once you have rounded up the recommendations, you can also do further research online. Look for home nursing services that meet all your requirements and more. Ensure that you are looking into some crucial questions, for example:
- How long has this home nursing service been working in the community?
- How thorough are they when explaining their services, eligibility requirements, fees and finance sources?
- How does this provider train its employees?
- How much does this provider allow the patient and his or her family to develop the plan of care?
- Are the supervisors looking over the care plan?
- How is the provider prepared for emergencies?
- What steps do they take to ensure patient confidentiality?
- Go and speak to each home nursing service provider
Now that you have a couple of providers in mind, it is time to go and speak to them individually. This step is critical because you want to get a feeling for the provider and the workers before you let them enter your home.
Definitely, during this period, use your gut instincts and listen to how you feel and react when speaking with each provider.
- Understand how you will pay for it
Depending on which country you reside, the payment structure will be different; however, usually home health care services are paid for in a combination of three ways:
- Patient and family (out of pocket)
- Public third-party payers
- Private third-party payers (health insurance companies and care plans)
Again, it depends on where you reside, but usually, there is some third party payment involved.
These third parties will have particular eligibility and coverage requirements, so you must thoroughly understand these before you agree to any services. You don’t want to find yourself in a position where you can’t pay, and services need to be interrupted, or where you are spending too much.
Why is it important?
By allowing a home nursing service to enter your life, whether for the benefit of yourself or for the benefit of a loved one, you are taking an essential step to ensuring that your whole family can have peace of mind.
Having to look after someone, in addition to regular daily responsibilities, can be challenging for anyone — yet a patient necessitates a lot of attention and effort.
By working with a professional nurse at home, you are guaranteeing that the patient receives all the necessary attention, support and encouragement, while the rest of the responsibilities also get managed.
It isn’t a failure to have to ask for help — remember, no one can do it all on their own.
AUTHOR BIO
Ibrahim Khader founded Angels of Medical Care in 2010. The name “Angels” was chosen because of his belief that nurses are angels of healing and care with the blessings of the creator. The company has flourished and is now one of the best, most renowned home care companies in Dubai.