Staffing Fix: Home Healthcare Employees and Patient Safety

Staffing Fix: Home Healthcare Employees and Patient Safety

Type of document       Research Paper           6 Pages  Subject area    Healthcare     Academic Level            Master

Style    APA     Number of sources/references            3

Order description:

This paper is about how to improve safety for Home Healthcare nurses and their patients. Please give a introduction, recommendation and conclusion on how to improve the work environment for nurses in these three areas:

Violence

Violence is an everyday concern of home health nurses. Confused and angry patients can become combative due to the presence of someone in their home.

Car-Related Issues

Home health nurses are charged with driving to multiple homes each day, often visiting six to eight patients in a day’s time. Often, the nurse is making a first trip to a patient’s home and trying to find the exact location. Driving on unfamiliar roads and traveling what may be more than 100 miles a day increases the risk of being in a car accident as compared to a nurse who merely drives to the same hospital for work each day.

Lifting Injuries

While all nurses are taught to lift safely and work as a team, home health nurses are often in situations where they need to lift an incapacitated patient by themselves without adequate equipment. This can occur during bathing, sheet changing, wound treatment, or getting the patient out of bed. Lifting injuries can lead to herniated disks, chronic low back pain and disability.