What Is A Home Health Care Agency?

Many people in the US need to care for sick or elderly relatives. Specialized nursing homes are gradually fading into the background, and home health care service is increasingly developing in the country. For choosing qualified and experienced nurses, people often turn to home health care agencies, which have extensive dossiers with ID, personal files, and letters of recommendation for each candidate. When customers use the services of such companies, they can be 100% sure of the quality of the staff, which will surely help their dear relatives.

What is included in the health care agency services?

Health care agencies in the USA are the most important organizations that provide useful services for people who are looking for palliative care or home hospice care for their relatives. The range of duties of such agencies includes a list of the following services:

·  Creation of a full database with the registration of each candidate.

· Collection of personal and professional information about the candidate.

· Verification of information and copies of qualification documents submitted by a nurse who wishes to get a job.

· Designing an official website with a convenient search system for the necessary candidate by using filters.

· Providing guarantees to the customer in the choosing future staff for the compliance of the information declared about the candidate with reality.

· Organization of an initial meeting and interview with a candidate for a job in the provision of palliative care services.

· If necessary, discussion of the special working conditions of a person, as well as the patient’s character traits.

· Appointment of a probationary period until the signing of the contract with the potential customer.

· If the candidate doesn’t suit the patient, the agency promptly helps to choose a new nurse as soon as possible.

For the qualitative provision of the described services, the agency charges its remuneration from a potential customer, which is up to 1 monthly salary of the future employee, provided that he suits the patient according to the results of the probationary period.

Qualifications for Home Care Candidates

Each candidate applying for a job caring for the ill and seniors must have the following qualifications and work experience:

· Possession of a diploma of higher or secondary specialized medical education.

· The presence of a certificate obtained as a result of successful testing after passing advanced training courses.

· Availability of references from other agencies or previous customers.

· Information about long-term work experience is recorded in a special accounting book.

· Candidate ID with registration and US resident card.

· If necessary, certificates of no criminal record and work permits.

The above documents are collected by each health care agency before the candidate is presented to the customer. Each officially registered and long-standing company for the choosing and applying of domestic or medical personnel collects the most complete information about nurses. This is because the patient completely trusts the person and lets him into his house, and he must be 100% sure that there is no potential threat.

Features of the applying of candidates for nurses for home hospice

Hospice at home means caring for a hopelessly ill patient who has no more than 6 months left to live, following the conclusion of the attending physician. This means that the candidate must be with the patient until the end, as changing palliative care staff can be painful and stressful for the patient. Thus, in addition to qualifications, education, and work experience, the candidate must also have many other personal qualities:

· Stress resistance, as constant care means being with the patient 24/7.

· The ability to take care of a person. Each palliative care nurse must feed the patient, change his clothes, take care of the cleanliness of the body and the natural needs of her ward.

· In the most difficult situations. nutrition is carried out through a dropper, with the help of saline.

· The nurse must be able to give injections, as patients in the terminal stages of cancer experience very severe pain.

· it is recommended to choose and apply candidates without bad habits, which may adversely affect the patient.

· The nurse must be in good health and physical strength, because often patients cannot move independently, and they need to be transferred from bed to a wheelchair for a walk.

· The candidate must have great patience, because patients in the last stages of life may show aggression, refuse to take food or medicine, yell at the nurse. In such situations, it is important to treat patients with understanding, kindness, and care, regardless of the circumstances.

· One of the most important qualities of a person is the skills of a psychologist because a patient in the last stages of life can be very worried and depressed, which requires a special attitude towards him and reassurance with the help of the right dialogue.

· All candidates for palliative care should understand the imminent death of a person and take it calmly.

Many health care agencies have psychologists who test the personal qualities of candidates before they are registered in the database. This is necessary in order not to harm the patient if approved by the nurse for palliative care in the home hospice.

Our All American Home Care Palliative Care Center has a staff of highly qualified nurses and general practitioners. We provide only high-quality services, and the relatives of our patients leave only positive reviews about us on independent sites on the Internet and also pass on the most complete recommendations to our employees.

How to choose the right candidate for home care?

Agencies always provide customers with several candidates to choose from, and therefore the final decision rests with the patient’s relatives. In order not to make a mistake in the choice, it is recommended to take into account several important nuances:

· It is necessary to check all documents and letters of recommendation of the future nurse for patient care.

· Conduct a face-to-face interview, find out about the personal qualities of a person, the presence of a family, ask about the past.

· Introduce the candidate to the patient to be looked after.

· Establish full eye contact with the candidate, follow his reaction to the patient to ensure a friendly attitude.

· If there are contacts in letters of recommendation, try to contact their authors and ask half the details about the future nurse.

· If the candidate is fully suitable, it is recommended to offer him a trial period, which, most often, lasts from 1 to 2 weeks, with constant monitoring and the right to terminate the contract without giving reasons.

One of the most important selection criteria, according to experts, is the candidate’s desired salary. If a specialist evaluates himself too low, this indicates insufficient experience, as qualified medical staff, as a rule, tries to keep up with the average market.

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What are the responsibilities of a home care professional?

If approved and hired, the caregiver must comply with the following requirements to ensure normal living conditions for the ward:

· A patient care, provision of everyday needs of a person, maintenance of sanitary and hygienic conditions.

· Stay close to the palliative patient 24/7.

· Continuous monitoring of human health.

· If necessary, provide intravenous feeding of the patient.

· Measurement of blood pressure, heart rate.

· Timely provision of first aid or resuscitation.

· In the event of a deterioration in the state of health or the identification of suspicions of pathology, it is necessary to promptly seek qualified medical care in a hospital setting.

· Turning a bedridden patient from one side to another, to avoid the formation of bedsores.

· Transportation of an incapacitated patient from bed to a wheelchair for a walk in the fresh air.

· Fulfillment of simple orders of the patient, if they do not contradict the testimony of the attending physician.

· Providing psychological assistance to the patient in the last stages of life, maintaining his emotional background in a normal state.

· Periodic informing relatives and the attending physician about the state of health of the ward, as well as about positive or negative dynamics.

The specialists of our center constantly conduct advanced training courses, confirming the skills with attestation. We provide primary, secondary, and tertiary care to all categories of patients. We provide home services for long-term rehabilitation of the patient after surgery, help to recover quickly, and enter the remission stage. When working with palliative patients, we are next to them 24/7, relieve pain through safe injections, provide the necessary care, feed and change the patient. If necessary, we involve professional psychologists who provide a comfortable stay until the death of a person.