Using A Private Duty Nurse Helps The Family

By Marci Glover


People, usually the elderly, when they are in the hospital for any length of time, need help from a number of professionals. The need for assistance in many things, not just medical, makes them vulnerable to their infirmities, even if only temporarily. This is the perfect time to hire a private duty nurse for assistance.

All of the readings that are usually taken by the hospital staff can be done by these nurses. Heart rate monitoring as well as blood and sugar levels can be taken and recorded. The intake of food and drink as well as the outflow of same can be measured in a way that is helpful for analysis and managing care going forward.

The home is a much more scary place for a patient in need of this critical care because family members are not as prepared to perform the many tasks to keep them comfortable. The nurse will accomplish this and also train the family in how it is done. Most people have no idea how difficult it is to bathe someone who can not even be helped to the bathtub or shower.

All private nurses must complete a certain amount of college course and extra work to become certified. They will take health basics and nursing courses to enable them to understand all that is involved in their trade. Four year college courses are part and parcel for many of these professionals as they will moving into a specialty down the line.

Private nurses of all specialties will need to be well informed about their patients. They will also need to become personally aware of their moods and eccentricities. This is important as many of those changes can indicate something that tests will not show. The family benefits from this as they do not have the time to do this even if they are trained to do so.

These nurses will need to be involved in many activities. They will be dealing with tracheotomies, catastrophic injury and tube feedings. Ventilators will need to be prepared and cleaned, insulin pumps will be monitored as well as the many different types of spinal injuries must be known about. This is a very short list, however, and the need for all around knowledge is beneficial should anything arise that is out of the ordinary.

Hiring a private nurse should cause you to be careful about who you get to attend to your loved one. They must have the experience that is required for the patient and an organization to back them up should they be unable to be be there because of illness. They must be certified for the position in your state which does change from area to area and have the temperament to do what needs to be done in your place.

Saving time and trouble, for you and your family, is what this is all about. The first task, of course, is to make sure your loved one is well looked after. If that can be done by you, that is the optimum situation. This is not the case in many families and a professional nurse is a very careful way of making sure every one has the peace of mind they need in this situation.




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