An incredible career opportunity for nursing school graduates is the one they least expect, yet it is growing in demand.
“When I talk with nursing students, I ask them what they’re thinking of going into for nursing. Inevitably almost no one says home care—and that’s okay because I’m listening for the other answers that they’re giving,” says Nicoleen Meyer, VP of Clinical Services at Accurate Home Care (@accuratehmcare).
“Some want to go into an ICU, or into an emergency department, or into Pediatrics or onto a floor in a hospital. After hearing their answers I’m able to say, ‘So, I have an opportunity for you that encompasses all of that with a little sprinkle of hospice and some mental health in it as well. We do it all in home care,’” she says.
Students are usually surprised and a bit skeptical. “But then I go on to talk about the skills that we utilize in home care and the types of patients and diagnoses we see. We have patients with tracheostomies, ventilators and feeding tubes. We have patients who have seizure interventions, central lines, total parenteral nutrition, ostomies, catheters… the list goes on and on,” Meyer says. “Meanwhile the interventions that we can provide in home care are growing and changing every day to the benefit of the patients because these patients then are able to be home.”
Marketplace changes in recent years has elevated home health to where it now ranks as one of the top 10 “best nursing jobs you can get after you graduate,” according to Wolters Kluwer, a global provider of professional information, solutions and services for clinicians, nurses, accountants, lawyers and others.
“Gone are the days where students graduating with nursing degrees are pigeonholed into wearing scrubs and working their entire careers in a hospital setting,” it says. “As technology continues to fuel the medical industry and the COVID-19 pandemic shifted the way care is delivered, patient care has become increasingly mobile, leading to a rise in home health nurses assisting patients in their home after leaving a clinical setting. This could be short-term or long-term care, and daily responsibilities are similar to those of a nurse in a hospital setting.”
Accurate Home Care sets up clinical rotations with nursing students to give them a chance to see the world of home care. “Some of the most positive feedback I’ve received is from LPN students who ride along with our Home Health LPN visit nurses and see the wound care that they’re providing, including instances involving a wound-vac. Other times it may be a blood draw, or a medication set up for a patient. Again, the list goes on and on. Students also see patient education that’s provided and how those relationships are established. The feedback I often receive is, ‘I didn’t know an LPN could do that.’”
Another attractive aspect to delivering home care is that “if you’re providing patient visits during the day, you get to drive around in the midst of all, potentially in a company vehicle, while enjoying your music and the sunshine between visits,” Meyer says. “It’s just really a great variety of patient care and seeing multiple different homes and environments.”
Learn more online about nursing jobs at Accurate Home Care, including current job openings. The company’s healthy workplace culture led to its being named a Top 200 Workplace by the Star Tribune in 2023.
