Skilled Nurse Taking The Blood Pressure At Home
Home care services become necessary when a person needs round the clock long term care, is unable to care for themselves, family or friends cannot help often enough, or skilled nursing services are required on a regular basis. Home care services are a wonderful way for a person to maintain their normal lifestyle. Living in your own home allows you freedom to choose your own schedule, have friends visit at a time that is convenient for you, go to bed when you want, and get up when you want. You can schedule home care visits and have the home care aides help you get ready in the morning, make breakfast, do light household duties, fix lunch and dinner ahead of time, assist with personal care tasks such as combing hair, applying makeup, or toileting, and provide general companionship.
Sometimes home care aides are not enough to meet your personal and medical needs. Skilled care nurses perform more complicated medical tasks such as:
- Monitoring the heart, lungs, skin, and blood pressure
- Administering medications
- Drawing blood
- Wound care
- Colostomy care
- Performing injections
- IV or infusion therapy
- Caring for broken bones or fractures
- Indwelling catheter care
- Education and training on new devices or medication
- Discussing new diagnoses and care plans
- Prescribing diets
- Giving safety tips for household layout
- Administering gastronomy feedings
Home care agencies like Boca Home Care in Boca Raton, Florida are Medicare certified and can provide home health aide and skilled nursing services that are paid for by Medicare. Your doctor can write an order for Medicare in-home health care instead of a new or continued hospital, rehab facility, or nursing home stay. Many people need skilled nursing after being discharged from one of these facilities after a stroke, surgery or some kind of accident.
Medicare will cover up to 35 hours per week of skilled nursing or home health aide services. They pay in full for these services. Other skilled therapy services that can be paid for by Medicare when done under the supervision of or performed by a licensed therapist include:
- Physical therapy: this includes supervision of and training for exercises performed to improving or regaining walking skills and improving or regaining strength in any area of the body;
- Speech therapy: this includes regaining and strengthening speech; and
- Occupational therapy: this includes any exercise that helps you to relearn daily living tasks or activities such as eating and dressing.
It is important to remember that Medicare requires that any of the above services must be considered reasonable and necessary for the treatment of your specific injury or illness. Medicare also requires that any services by performed by a licensed professional, and that the services enable you to maintain your current level of functioning. Contact a Medicare certified home care agency today if you are in need of any of the home care services above.
