How To Know Which Home Nursing Services Suit You Best

Correlating with the escalating numbers of senior citizens opting to stay at home for long-term care has been a marked increase in the availability of home nursing services across the nation, many of which offer an abundance of specialized services in addition to providing basic in-home care for seniors.

Choosing the right home nursing service for long-term care can be an arduous task requiring research into diverse considerations ranging from cost, overall affordability, and the availability of specific services.

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Caring for parents as they age is never easy. The help from home care services allows you to maintain your relationship while providing the best care possible.  

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Also of critical importance and requiring careful consideration in choosing an in-home nursing service are factors such as trustworthiness, experience, and reliability. With the surge in home nursing services at a current all-time high, many newly established businesses may lack the expertise and resources to provide the level of top-quality care that you demand and expect.

Opting to remain at home during the aging process is a viable decision that is not only feasible but also optimal, as it allows you to exercise autonomy and exert control over the quality of your life and the level of care that you receive.

At Aging In Place, we understand the crucial importance surrounding your decision to remain at home. We wholeheartedly respect the autonomy exercised by senior citizens undergoing the process of planning a happy, content, and fruitful life that is supplemented by top-quality in-home nursing services designed to provide you the care and assistance you require while also enabling you to live a relaxed and comfortable life defined by the aspects of respect, self-reliance, and confidence.

If you are interested in finding out how to make the critically important decision of opting for the best home nursing service for you and your individual needs, read on below.  You will find useful tips, easy-to-view charts, and essential advice, in our incredibly informative primer, allowing you to make well-educated and stress-free decisions on choosing the absolute best care service for your needs.

Different Types of In-Home Nursing Care Services

While in-home nursing care may sound like a blanket term describing the basic care and assistance to senior citizens, the truth is that there are myriad types of services available with an immense degree of differences existing within each type of care service.

Give Your Loved Ones The Best Care

Caring for parents as they age is never easy. The help from home care services allows you to maintain your relationship while providing the best care possible.  

Find Caregivers

Different Types of Home CareHome care can range from high specialized care like a neurologist’s visit, to generalized care like companionship or housekeeping to help seniors live alone with confidence. Read More

Types Of In-Home Nursing Care Professionals

• Home-health nurses
• Nurse practitioners
• Physician assistants
• Physical therapists
• Physicians
• Occupational therapists
• Home-health type aides
• Personal companions and homemakers
• Personal care attendants

Each of the care professionals listed above offer essential in-home assistance services for senior citizens. With varying levels of education, qualifications, and specific expertise, the types of care professionals and their respective services are available at a wide range of price points, depending on your individual lifestyle and health care needs.

With a clear understanding of the different home nursing services available to you, the ensuing process of picking the best one to suit your needs becomes immensely more streamlined, with much of the guesswork and uncertainty removed from the decision-making process.

Read below to see our easy point-by-point guide on how to identify and subsequently choose the best in-home nursing service for your needs. With us, you are promptly on your way to constructing a personal care blueprint that is perfect for your highly individualized requirements.

Guide to Choosing the Perfect In-Home Nursing Care Service

Identify your individual needs: Begin by taking an “inventory” of your care needs by identifying any and all health issues that you have.

The maladies afflicting senior citizens range from minor to severe in nature and ultimately determine the type and level of in-home nursing care that one will require to maintain a comfortable, pleasant, and happy life on a day-to-day basis.

Examples of Common Afflictions Found in the Senior Citizen Population Include:

Consider the Following Scenarios:

• A senior who is otherwise mentally and physically healthy but is perhaps experiencing difficulties from having undergone recent hip replacement surgery will not necessarily require the costly services of a nurse practitioner or visiting physician and will be best served by employing the affordable services of a physical therapist who will help facilitate post-surgery recovery along with a home-health aide who can assist with upkeep of their home while they undergo the recovery process back to health.
• A senior who is experiencing early signs of Alzheimer’s disease but is in relatively good physical health will not necessarily require services from a nurse practitioner or physician but instead would be best served by employing care professionals such as a home-health aide or personal care attendant who can assist with tasks such as bill-paying, facilitating medical or personal appointments, and other important tasks.
• A senior who is required to use a wheelchair and is also experiencing dementia symptoms will be immensely benefitted from in-home nursing care professionals. Including home-health aides, companions/homemakers, or personal care attendants who can assist with daily living activities involving grooming, bathing, and dressing along with providing much needed help with errands, general chores, cleaning and housekeeping, cooking and/or meal preparation, laundry, shopping, organizing, paying bills, facilitating medical appointments, administering medications, managing finances, transportation, in addition to also providing companionship.

Examine your budget: After identifying your in-home nursing care needs, examine your budget to determine how much can be comfortably allocated toward employing the services of a care professional.

Specific physical and lifestyle needs will dictate the type of care professional that is most appropriate for your needs and by properly identifying the areas where you readily require assistance, you are ultimately able to make the most financially prudent decision possible.

With their wide range of specialties, expertise, education, and credentials, in-home nursing care professional services are offered in a vast spectrum of price points. Below are the current rates for some of the most commonly utilized care service professionals.

• Home-health aides: $19.00 per hour
• Companions and homemakers: $18.00 per hour
• Nurse practitioners: From $35.00 per visit
• Doctors/Physicians: From $300 per visit

Give Your Loved Ones The Best Care

Caring for parents as they age is never easy. The help from home care services allows you to maintain your relationship while providing the best care possible.  

Find Caregivers

Make your decision and do cursory research: Armed with critically important information about the many variances found within the different types of in-home nursing care services, you are able to match your unique care and assistance needs with the type of care professional best suited for you and your budget.

Once you identify the type of nursing care services you will be requiring, look for the specific individuals and companies that match your needs.

It is highly recommended to research the company or individual you employ by looking at things like online reviews and Better Business Bureau ratings. If hiring an individual such as a companion or homemaker, ask for references and proof of qualifications in addition to inquiring how many years of experience they have.

Conclusion

According to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, upwards of 90% of senior citizens prefer to live in the comfort and familiarity of their home rather than make the transition to an assisted living facility or nursing home.

Today, seniors making the decision to remain at home have more options than ever to exercise control over the quality of their lives. With a booming industry of in-home nursing care services, there are a plethora of different types of care services available ranging from basic needs types of care to specialized medical care catering to a multitude of physical and emotional needs.

Every type of care assistance imaginable is readily available for your unique healthcare and lifestyle assistance requirements. With care services available hourly, daily, weekly, bi-weekly and more, you can elect to design a care strategy for yourself that fits your budgetary requirements while ensuring your most pressing needs are tended to.

It is our aim at Aging In Place to help seniors make well-educated decisions about the level of quality care you deserve. Providing you with all the critically important information you need to make the best-informed decision possible, we strive to remove the stress, ambiguity, and guesswork out of the decision-making process so that you can focus on confidently forging the next chapter of your life.

For more valuable information about the senior citizen experience, visit USAGov’s Guide For Seniors today.