The Home Health Care Planning Improvement Act of 2015, a measure aiming to permit nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, physician assistants and certified nurse midwives to sign off on home health care plans and authorize Medicare patients for home health benefits has been gaining momentum in the U.S. Houses of Congress. http://www.freeimages.com/photographer/bacall213-37973 The Senate Bill is S578 and the House Bill is HR 1342. The bills are identical and support has been growing in recent weeks due to a new wave of bipartisan support. Many people rely on NPs and PAs as their primary care providers making this crucial legislation to reduce costs and improve outcomes for patients with a…
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The Art of Nursing; Find Your Passion Again
One of the things that makes a huge difference for me in my career and life is the ability to bring creativity to my job and to my personal life. When that creativity is stiffed by people who say “just do this” and only allow me to do the mundane parts of my job, I get very frustrated and quite frankly find myself burning out again. My passion is helping nurses learn how to document well while taking credit for all of the loving, quality care they provide. The Art of Nursing Nursing is a science yes, and we have tons of best practices to evidence the care and care…
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Where Do You Take Your Career as an Older Nurse?
Ugh I guess I have to admit I’m an older nurse now. My current role as QI (for hospice) automatically makes me one of the people you love to hate, but I always hope I don’t come off as old and outdated like some of those “older” nurses we always hated and hoped would retire SOON — like today! I left hospital nursing behind me years ago and became a home health nurse which I dearly loved. It gave me freedoms, yet responsibility and a need to be able to work with little supervision. This required a strong work ethic and the ability to work autonomously. I finally felt like…
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Avoiding Caregiver Fatigue
Sorry to be a little late with this today. We are having very high winds, temperatures and fires in So. CA so the power is wildly fluctuating. I’m trying my best to get this done quickly now. The winds and heat can be so annoying, but also play havoc with health issues. So can the extreme cold, snowy, rainy weather that most of the country has dealt with for months this year and continues long into the Spring. We always take the time to educate our patients in how to stay warm or cool. How important fluid intake is especially with extremes in weather. That winds drive the pollen and…