Have you ever counselled a dying person while helping them decide where they want to die when they just found out that time is short? That is one of the things that CCAC nurse care co-ordinators do.
What about helping that same dying person and their family to understand what the doctor has said and what the heck to do with all that medication that they have been given?
When the family of that dying patient needs services to help them cope, the nurse care co-ordinator assesses them in their homes. She or he then talks to them on the phone frequently to change their services or arrange for admission to a residential hospice.
Doctors and nurse practitioners order all kinds of treatments to be given outside of the hospital setting. The nurse care co-ordinator arranges for these treatments to be administered in the patient’s home or clinic setting.
These often-complicated treatments require a nurse who has been trained to administer these treatments to understand how to arrange for others to do so.
Nurses and nurse care co-ordinators assess all kinds of patients in their homes.
Mental health and mentally stressed patients require the skills and education of a nurse.
Patients with dementia and their families become overwhelmed and turn to the CCAC nurse care co-ordinator, who often acts as counsellor as well as nurse.
The process of admission to long-term care is difficult for patients and families. Nurse care co-ordinators and placement co-ordinators are the ones who assess and assist in this process.
Did you know that nurse care co-ordinators and other CCAC nurses have had their lives threatened and their safety compromised in patients’ homes? As nurses, we are trained to deal with these kinds of threats and to help those in distress to get the help that they need.
We may not do what you think a nurse does. There are many faces of nursing, and we are nurses.
Lisa Turpin
Sudbury