Home Care Nursing
Updated 9/10/2021
In addition to the other coronavirus information throughout our site, there is vital information for our Minneapolis office Home Care Nursing patients. Please reach out to your case manager with any questions on the information below.
- PPE must be used, according to CDC and MDH guidelines, when our HCN is giving care to a patient with a communicable illness. When there is an identified risk for Coronavirus in a patient home, our HCN wears goggles/a face shield, N95 mask, gown, and gloves throughout their nursing shift. While the goggles/face shield may be disinfected and reused, the N95 mask, gown, and gloves are not able to be reused and need to be changed at varying times throughout a shift.
- PHS must be notified immediately of any communicable illness with the HCN patient or other person in the household experiencing symptoms or a confirmed diagnosis of a communicable illness. Upon notification, PHS HCN will assess critical supplies and will work with you to develop a plan for ongoing care with significantly diminished hours of service. Our ability to provide any hours of HCN staffing will be dependent upon:
- Access to critical supplies the HCN must utilize during the provision of care.
- Access to a nurse trained to care for your child, who is well and has not had any concerning exposures to an individual with a communicable disease.
- Whether a nurse in your home can safely wear the PPE required to provide care.
Once the patient or household member tests negative for the diagnosed communicable illness, the HCN staffing will then only be dependent upon our access to a nurse trained to care for your child, who is well and has not had any concerning exposures to an individual with a communicable disease.
- To ensure we are following directions by the CDC and state agencies to prevent the spread of infection, we are requiring that if staff have symptoms of a respiratory disease (these include fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, or diarrhea.), they are to stay home until they cleared to return to work based on multiple factors including COVID test results, vaccination status, and the number of days have passed since the start of symptoms. Additional work restrictions are in place if staff are exposed to or tested for COVID-19.