A Guide For Becoming A Private Duty Nurse

Most people nowadays prefer to have a private duty nurse rather than relying on someone else for a patient’s care. This provides them with two benefits:

• Better Care: As nurses are trained, they offer superior care compared to someone who doesn’t know much about nursing.
• Individual Attention: Other family members or caretakers may not be able to provide complete medical attention to the patient. This can lead to complications or mistakes. On the flip side, private nurses keep their eyes on the patient and don’t leave any space for faults.

For someone looking for a private nurse should take assistance from the best nursing agency in Kingston. But if you want to become one, you can follow this simple guide.

Step 1: Understanding The Concept

Before getting into anything else, you first need to understand what ‘being a private duty nurse‘ means. So this domain of nursing mostly requires you to live with the patient for the period of their illness. You need to have skills like communication, critical thinking, and compassion for this job. Along with these, you must possess some hard skills like patient care, trach care, etc.

Basically, you need to have a set of skills that will help you provide a comfortable environment for the patient in their home. As you will be living with the family, there are chances that you will become a part of it and start performing other small tasks as well. But the usual responsibilities include:

• Maintaining records of the patient
• Daily assessment of the patient’s condition
• Proper management of treatment and medication
• Consulting the respective doctor about the patient’s condition
• Operating medical equipment

There are several more in this list. You must know all about the roles and responsibilities of a private duty nurse before moving forwards with the career option.

Step 2: Educational Qualifications

Now that the concept is clear to you, you can move on to the educational qualifications. For this job, you need to do your bachelor’s nursing program from some reputable institution. You may also prefer to get a master’s degree in nursing before starting with your private duty nursing career. However, you will have to choose the majors course correctly in both cases. Some of the common ones that will help you with private duty nursing are:

• Nursing Degrees
• Medical Assisting Services Degrees
• Nursing Assistants Degrees
• Healthcare Administration Degrees

Apart from this, you can also begin the journey with a diploma in private duty nursing. But you may not be exposed to as many opportunities in it as you will be in a degree program. So choose wisely.

To make the entire procedure more convenient, you can also opt for some certifications like Critical Care Registered Nurse (CCRN). These will help in making your resume more impressive.

Step 3: Gaining Experience

Most of the agencies require you to have at least a few years of experience in other nursing jobs before opting for private duty nursing. Especially when you are looking forward to working under the best nursing agency, you must get two to three years of prior practice. This can be done in various domains, such as Registered Nurse or Licensed Practical Nurse.

Step 4: Designing Resume

Once you have gained all the required knowledge and skills, it is finally time to become a private duty nurse. To begin, you need to design your resume. You can look for tips and examples of a private duty nurse resume to get an idea. Remember, this healthcare domain is entirely different from others, and agencies are very careful about this job. So, your resume must stand out in front of them. For this, you need to take care of all aspects of the document and design it in the best possible way.

Step 5: Apply With Agencies

You can search for the best nursing agency in Kingston and send them your resume. Here, you may also prefer to look for any openings in your area. But you need to be cautious with the type of agency you are applying to. As you will have to visit the patient’s residence and stay with them, the agency must take care of your well-being as well. It can include various factors, like bonuses and proper guidance.

Along with this, you need to check the agency’s paying schedules. Some of them pay monthly while others after every week. So it is better to opt for whichever fits your requirements the best.

Conclusion

Now that you know everything about private duty nurses, you begin your journey easily. If you have just started with the courses, remember to pick the majors carefully because they will help you secure your future job. In case you are looking for jobs, you need to find the correct agency. They will provide you with the best duties available in your area.