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Home Health Care and Hospice Nurses


Overview

Home Health Care and Hospice Nurses

Introduction

Home health care nurses, also called visiting nurses, provide home-based health care under the direction of a physician. They care for persons who are recovering from an accident, illness, surgery, cancer, or childbirth. They may work for a community organization or a private health care provider, or they may be independent nurses who work on a contract basis.

While home health care nurses care for patients expecting to recover, hospice nurses care for people who are in the final stages of a terminal illness...

Quick Facts


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Median Salary

$71,850

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Employment Prospects

Excellent

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Minimum Education Level

Associate's Degree
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Experience

Prior nursing experience required


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Skills

Interpersonal
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Personality Traits

Helpful
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Earnings

Mean annual earnings of registered nurses who worked for home health services providers were $71,850 in May 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). Salaries for all registered nurses ranged from less than $50,800 to more than $106,530. 

Licensed practical nurses (LPNs) who worked for home health services providers earned mean annual salaries of $47,880 in May 2018 accordin...

Work Environment

Most hospice and home health care nurses care for their patients in the patients' homes, nursing homes, or in the homes of their caregivers, so the work environment can be as varied as their patients' lifestyles. In addition, patients and family members can be very tense during this stressful period of their lives and they may be unpleasant and uncooperative at times. Some nurses are on call 24...

Outlook

Nursing specialties will be in great demand in the future. This demand will be felt particularly in the hospice and home health care fields. U.S. Bureau of the Census predicts that approximately 77 million people will be age 65 or over by 2034. As the older population increases, their need for medical care will also increase. Hospice participation has grown at a dramatic rate, espe...