Health Careers - College of Medicine - University of Vermont

A Closer Look
House Calls: Providing Health Care in the Patient’s Home
The biggest growth of jobs
in health care is projected
to occur in the home
health care arena, which is
a natural outgrowth of the
trend to keep patients at home if
possible, and to discharge them
sooner from hospitals.
Patricia Donehower
What types of jobs will experience
this huge increase? Patricia Donehower, RN, director
of Adult Home Care at the Visiting Nurse Association
of Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties (VNA) in
Colchester, can list quite a number of them. “There
is a wide range of professions that operate in home
health, including registered nurse, licensed practical
nurse, licensed nursing assistant, occupational
therapist, physical therapist, speech therapist, social
worker, personal care attendant, diabetes educator,
and nurse specialists such as wound care/incontinence
nurse, psychiatry nurse, maternal-child nurse, and
neuro-rehab nurse. In addition, there are other programs
that function in the home, such as palliative
care, hospice and bereavement.”
The benefits of working in home care are numerous,
says Pat. “You’re part of a team of people who
enable recovery and/or adaptation to chronic illness
in patients’ homes, and that’s a great feeling. You get
to know the patients and their families because you
see them over time and the rewards of developing a
relationship with a patient are very substantial.”
Home health care also presents opportunities for
using many skills, such as decision-making, communication,
patient assessment, and for registered nurses
who guide and direct licensed practical nurses and
licensed nursing assistants, management and teambuilding
skills. The challenges presented in finding the
patient’s home and establishing a relationship with
new patients are balanced by a degree of independence
for workers to schedule their patient visits within the
day, and a supportive work environment.
Typical employee benefits in home health care
include car allowance reimbursement, cell telephone
expenses, a pension and an investment savings program,
says Pat. There are also tuition reimbursement
funds available and plenty of in-house and external
continuing education provided.
When asked how to know if home health care is
the right setting for an employee, Pat suggests summer
employment at an agency to get a closer look at the
environment. Those interested in being a licensed
nursing assistant can attend the LNA course, and for
other new employees, there is an extensive orientation
program that is customized for each learner.
“Home health care allows you to truly understand
the patient in their environment, and challenges you
to call upon community agencies and resources
who should be involved to help make the patient as
independent and comfortable as possible,” Pat
comments. “It is a health care setting where you can
see the difference you make each and every day.”
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