by Infusion nurses perform a variety of tasks.
Those include infusing everything from hydration fluids to intermittent medications.
Sometimes, they are in charge of chemotherapy and blood products.
But the procedure for assessing patients who can’t physically come for ongoing infusions is specific.
Infusion nurses are allowed to make house calls and they often do it.
Nurses employed with a home health agency or private home care companies make house calls.
Because of an ongoing trend of shifting patients from an inpatient setting to outpatient facilities or home, infusion nurses provide care for the patient in the home more often than ever before.
However, home infusions aren’t without challenges.
Commonly, patients have a central line for infusion.
It is very important to maintain the cleanliness and sterility of it, but it can be a challenging in-home environment.
Infusion nurses at home have less control of the cleanliness of the central line than in the infusion clinic or inpatient facility.
Nurses in charge of house calls must assess the situations for potential hazards each time they visit a patient.
Moreover, they need to educate patients and family on the significance of maintaining sterile and clean IV lines.
Infusion nurses need to consider adverse reactions to IV therapy, which is much harder to control in the home environment.
There is usually only one infusion nurse on site, and if a complication occurs, a nurse needs to call 911 and manage the patient on her own until the emergency unit arrives.
Similar to other nursing fields, the job of an infusion nurse is challenging, but rewarding at the same time.
Because infusion nurses visit their patients in their homes, they can develop stronger bonds with the patients, which helps to heal and can improve outcomes.
Also, many nurses get to see the treatment progress and are present where the patient heals completely and doesn’t need a home infusion therapy anymore.
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