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Nurse Delegated Tasks a licensed registered nurse may delegate specific
nursing care tasks to qualified nursing assistants in community-based and in-home care
settings. One task taught and delegated to one caregiver for one client. Before delegating
a task, the registered nurse delegator must determine that specific criteria are met and
ensure that the patient is in a stable and predictable condition.
Psychiatric Services refers to the agency's ability to offer services related At Home Care & Health
to psychiatric support with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of mental illness.
Services may include counseling or administering of medications.
Respite Care is short-term or temporary. It is designed to give families a break from
the stress of daily caregiving. Respite care can be for a few hours, overnight, or for days.
The amount of care changes with the needs of the family and the ill or disabled person.
Skilled Nursing requires the oversight of a staff nurse and may include:
rehabilitation, wound care, therapy services, or other medical care. These services are
typically provided by a licensed Home Health Agency. This is different than Nurse
Delegation services that may use a third party agency or consultant to delegate as needed
for an individual specific need.
Therapy Services (OT, PT, RT, ST)
Occupational Therapy (OT) refers to services to assess and treat patients to help them
develop, recover, or maintain daily living and work skills. Occupational therapists help
clients not only to improve their basic motor functions and reasoning abilities, but also to
compensate for permanent loss of function.
Physical Therapy (PT) refers to services for the treatment and rehabilitation process
where a physical therapist will often stretch, strengthen, facilitate muscles, challenge
balance, test coordination abilities, teach home exercise programs to enhance basic mobility
skills; to help lessen disability and pain and improve overall function and quality of life.
Respiratory Therapy (RT) refers to services for care of patients with deficiencies and
abnormalities associated with the cardiopulmonary system. It may include the therapeutic
use of medical gases and their equipment, humidification, aerosols, ventilator support,
bronchi pulmonary drainage and exercise and respiratory rehabilitation.
Speech Therapy (ST) refers to services to assess and treat speech and swallowing
disorders. Speech therapy can treat speech, language, cognitive skills or swallowing.
Wound Ostomy Continence Nurse (WOCN)WOC nurses have
advanced training in acute and chronic wound care as well as the physical, emotional, and
social issues of patients with ostomies (those who have had some kind of bowel or bladder
diversion), stomas, acute and chronic wounds, and incontinence (those with bladder and
bowel control and associated skin care issues).
Sources: Department of Health & Human Services, Administration on Aging
and National Institutes of Health.
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