Community Nursing Services

 Community nursing services play an important role in providing healthcare to people who have difficulty accessing care. Nurses working in this field often have to be highly patient and have advanced communication skills.

This type of nursing care can help remove obstacles that prevent individuals from achieving good health, including lack of access to medical facilities and proper nutrition. Learn more about community nursing services from Lamar University’s online RN to BSN program.

Community Health Nurses

Nurses who specialize in community health often focus on promoting healthy living, educating the public on how to live with chronic diseases and offering patient care for those most vulnerable. They may work in government agencies, private healthcare organizations or hospitals, and nonprofit groups like the Red Cross.

A significant part of their job involves community outreach, conducting free or low-cost health screenings and immunization clinics for the general public. This helps the nurses collect data to identify areas of concern and improve future healthcare measures for specific populations.

Nursing students interested in community health can pursue entry-level roles with an associate degree, but to advance in the career, a bachelor’s degree is required. An online RN to BSN program like Radford’s can provide an ideal pathway to this specialty. The accelerated curriculum makes it possible to earn the degree within 10 months.

Home Health Nurses

Home health nurses provide individualized care to patients in their homes, often on an ongoing basis. The patient population varies from young healthy people recovering from surgery to elderly patients with chronic illnesses or terminal diseases.

These nurses must be able to build trusting and supportive relationships with their clients, many of whom may be in vulnerable situations. They must also be good at assessing community issues that might affect the health of their patients, such as access to medical services, economics and environmental factors.

A home health nurse must have a thorough knowledge of medical procedures and be able to work independently in a remote environment. In addition to the technical aspects of nursing, they must be able to keep accurate records and reports and communicate effectively with physicians. The role also requires a good level of organization as they must remember mealtimes, medication schedules and other appointments. They may be paid a salary or per visit by private insurance providers or government programs like Medicaid and Medicare.

Hospice Nurses

Those who choose to work in community health nursing often do so because they want to address the social determinants of health, which are factors that influence a person's ability to live a healthy life. Those factors can include access to healthcare, quality employment and housing, and education.

Hospice nurses care for terminally ill patients and their families, either in a specialized hospice facility or in the patient's homes. Their job is to help patients cope with the end-of-life diagnosis and dwindling physical function, which can be emotionally and spiritually challenging for both the patients and their loved ones.

Those who work in this field must be empathetic and caring, but they also need to be able to maintain a level of detached professionalism that allows them to provide the best possible care for their patients. They may need to arrange visits with priests and other spiritual advisers, as well as administer medications. RNs who work in this area also need to keep up with continuing education requirements, which vary by state.

Palliative Care Nurses

Palliative care nurses provide comfort and support to patients dealing with end-of-life issues. They either move into a patient’s home and offer around-the-clock care or visit them at prearranged times, including overnight. In either case, they have a wide range of duties that contribute to the patient’s quality of life, from monitoring symptoms to ensuring compliance with medication regimens and providing emotional support.

They also help patients and families navigate their medical options by facilitating discussions about end-of-life care preferences and arranging inpatient hospital or hospice care if needed. They must be compassionate and empathetic, as they often have a window into some of the most intimate moments in people’s lives. This type of nursing is more than just a job, it’s an opportunity to leave a lasting legacy through care. Nurses can enter this field with an ADN or BSN and must pass the NCLEX-RN exam. In addition, they may choose to take a specialized palliative care course.