Registered Nurse (RN) Job Description
Counsels the patient and family in meeting nursing and related needs. Provides health care instructions to the patient as appropriate per assessment and plan of care. Identifies discharge planning needs as part of the care plan development and implements prior to discharge of the patient. The Home Health Primary Nurse is a professional nurse who coordinates and directs the home care patient’s care based on individual patient needs. The Primary Nurse is responsible for independent management of the Home Health patient population requiring the use of advanced assessment, teaching and decision-making skills. The nurse is responsible for ensuring that appropriate referrals to other services are made, interdisciplinary conferencing takes place regularly, and appropriate documentation is completed. Relevant knowledge and experience is consistently applied to new patient populations. The Home Health Primary Nurse cares for a caseload of home health patients by evaluating the patient for appropriateness of home health and developing the home care plan in conjunction with the physician. S/he educates patients, families, caregivers and community providers to safely perform care. S/he provides follow up by evaluating effectiveness of the home care plan, and monitoring patient/family’s response to the plan. Each Home Health Primary Nurse belongs to a geographically organized work team. The Home Health Primary Nurse also identifies performance improvement and home health standard of care initiatives, and assists to design or implement programs to address needed changes.,