Category: News

Differences Between an Agency Nurse and a Staff Nurse

Posted on July 14, 2022 by Abraham Aquino

Registered nurses, licensed practice nurses, and certified nursing assistants can choose to work at facilities or on private duty cases through an agency. When they work on-site for a company, they are responsible for 10+ residents simultaneously. Alternatively, when they work at NursePartners, they can provide individualized care for older adults, unless they are contracted by a facility to fill in for staffing shortages on site.

According to a 2015 study it is estimated that there are over 2 million Americans who are home-bound. Is your loved among this group? NursePartners can help. We are a licensed home care agency that provides individualized and top-quality care for our clients. In this article, we highlight the differences between an agency nurse and a staff nurse so you can decide on the right care for your family member.

What is the Role of an Agency Nurse?

An agency nurse is a temporary healthcare professional who works on a contractual basis for home health agencies and other medical organizations. They provide the same services as regular full-time nurses however, they work on an as-needed basis rather than being permanently employed by a hospital, clinic or other healthcare facilities.

What is the Role of a Staff Nurse?

This is a full-time medical professional who works in a healthcare setting or facility. They work alongside members of the healthcare team to treat and manage patients’ conditions across age groups. Their responsibilities are usually outlined by their employer.

Agency Nurse vs Staff Nurse: What are the Differences?

An agency nurse and a staff nurse may perform many of the same tasks and require the same education and training, however, there are key differences between the two, such as:

Quality of Patient Care

While both agency and staff nurses can competently perform their duties and extend care, it is much easier for an agency nurse to provide individualized care to your loved one at home than for a staff nurse at a hospital who has to tend to a number of patients during their shifts. If there’s an unbalanced nurse-to-patient ratio it can lead to patients being neglected and becoming disgruntled. Moreover, it can cause further deterioration of patients’ health.

When your loved one is under the care of an agency nurse, they are a top priority. The agency nurse will consider their concerns and preferences while taking the time to connect with them.

Work Setting

You will have to factor in location when you and your loved one are trying to determine what type of nurse is suitable. Staff nurses tend to their patients in a variety of healthcare facilities such as hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes. Agency nurses also work in these settings, however, they are afforded more flexibility which allows them to also work in patients’ homes. They travel for work, so they may work at several locations for a short amount of time. In comparison, staff nurses consistently work at one location.

Specialty

Nurses can specialize in anything. At NursePartners, all staff shows a demonstrated working history in geriatric care. We want to pair older adults with nurses who understand the complexities of aging, as well as some associated chronic and progressive diseases. Private clients and facilities get the benefit of this experience when working with NursePartners.

Schedule

The nursing management at clinics and other healthcare facilities will determine the schedules every week with a set number of hours for their staff nurses. In comparison, agency nurses have the freedom to set their own schedules.

Agency Nurses Available in Philadelphia, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties

Are you considering hiring an agency nurse to take care of your loved one at home? At NursePartners we will work with you to devise a comprehensive care plan for your relative. They of course will be treated with respect, consideration, and kindness. We also help healthcare providers to solve their staffing problems when members of their full-time staff are unable to perform their duties. Contact us today by calling 610.323.9800 for a free consultation. You may also complete our online contact form.

How Do Caregivers Deal with a Patient Who Refuses to Bathe?

Posted on June 3, 2022 by Abraham Aquino

How Do Caregivers Deal with a Patient Who Refuses to Bathe?

Being a family caregiver for an older adult is a selfless act of kindness, love and loyalty. Such a noble role, however, can prove challenging, especially for those who were not trained as professional caregivers. We are reminded of this on difficult days, such as when our elderly relative refuses help with bathing.

Many seniors refuse to bathe due to the onset of dementia, concerns about safety in the tub, a lack of interest, arthritis, or other issues. Bathing is an important part of personal hygiene, and we must make sure this need is met, even if that requires us to change our approach. Private nurses and professional caregivers are trained to do just that.. Here are some of their tactics:

Home Care Services for Your Loved One - Nurse Partners

Use Negotiation Skills

Even though the older adult requires care, we must be careful to respect their dignity. They have lived long and fulfilling lives and do not appreciate taking instructions as if they were children again. In brief, this means that they do not like being told what to do. Private nurses and professional caregivers take the time to connect before providing care. This might mean preparing a favorite meal or taking them to see a friend after bath time.

Speak Favorably About Bath Time

Trained and experienced carepartners understand your loved one’s mindset and frame bath time as a positive experience rather than a chore. For instance, they may use the words, “pampering” or “relaxing” in reference to bathing. They may even use nicely scented soaps to encourage your relative to relax while taking care to warm a towel for use before getting out.

In addition, private nurses are more compassionate and sensitive to patients who may be embarrassed by body odors and soiled clothing. This in turn helps the elderly patient to feel at ease.

Professionals rely heavily on positive reinforcement in their work. Elders, just like everybody else, love compliments. A private nurse will be quick to point out how good a senior smells after taking a bath, compliment them on their choice of clean clothes, and so on.

Make it a Gradual Process

Sprinkler faucet A full shower or bath may be intimidating for some elders. Maybe your loved one falls into this category. A private nurse could break down the task into stages to make it easier. They may begin with simply asking to wipe off your loved one’s face. If they are receptive then the private nurse will gradually move to gently clean their underarms and other parts of the body, all while engaging them in conversation.

The private nurse will stop once your loved one becomes resistant. They know that your relative may eventually warm up to the idea of a full bath or shower.

Having the Know-How

Some seniors may not like the idea of getting a bath from a stranger. This is why it is important to build your care team early. Trust takes time to develop. After establishing a routine, older adults become comfortable with assistance, even when it requires help bathing.

Nurse Care in Philadelphia, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties

Getting your aging loved ones to take a bath can sometimes feel like an uphill battle. Fortunately, you have access to professional help. At NursePartners our private nurses are experienced in helping your loved ones to maintain proper personal hygiene while helping them to keep their dignity intact. They are also trained to assist your loved ones with their medical needs.

Why Should You Consider Home Care Services for Your Loved One?

Posted on May 17, 2022 by Abraham Aquino

Home Care Services for Your Loved One - Nurse Partner

Your parents and other elderly loved ones may be among the 77% of older Americans who prefer to age in place instead of residing at a nursing home or an assisted living facility. As they age you may find it necessary to get professional help, especially if your loved ones are experiencing Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia. With the help of a private nurse you can rest assured that your loved ones are in good hands.

For 20 years NursePartners has been supporting families by providing compassionate and experienced nurse care to their aging loved ones. Our team comprises the best Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) who serve in Philadelphia, Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware Counties. In this article we will discuss the benefits of hiring a private nurse to care for the seniors in your family.

What is the Role of a Home Care?

A private nurse is a nurturing professional who provides one-on-one medical care in the comfort of the patient’s own home. They can offer advanced care, working in tandem with you and the rest of the family.

What are Some of the Benefits of Receiving Care at Home?

Your loved one will be able to enjoy some level of autonomy while receiving at-home nurse care that include medical and personal benefits.

Medical Benefits

Depending on their level of education and certification, a private nurse typically can perform several medically related tasks including:

Monitoring your relative’s medical status and keeping detailed records for overseeing physicians. This includes blood pressure and blood sugar checks.
Performing Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
Alerting you, other caregivers and primary physicians of any changes in your loved one’s physical and/or emotional symptoms.
Administering medications
Providing traumatic injury and wound care

Personal Benefits

In addition to providing medical care, you can rely on a private nurse to cater to other needs your relative may have such as:

Home exercise programs
Companionship
Mobility assistance
Meal preparation
Bathing, grooming, and hygiene
Transferring and positioning
Diet monitoring
Toileting and incontinence care
Light housekeeping
Running errands and shopping
Medication reminders
Transportation

Is Your Loved One Experiencing Dementia or Cognitive Decline?

Some private nurses are specially trained to help the elderly with Alzheimer’s disease or other types of dementia, which may be another bonus. Ask prospective private nurses about their experience with cognitive decline, and be upfront about your loved one’s dementia behaviors.

At NursePartners, our private nurses (or carepartners) have been trained to use the Teepa Snow Positive Physical Approach to Care™ to care for those affected by dementia. This method allows patients and caregivers to have more positive and meaningful days. Get in touch with us to learn more about how we use this approach while caring for your elderly relatives.

Are You Interested in Home Care Services?

Private nurses are well-trained to not only offer exceptional nurse care but also to extend warmth and love to your aging and ailing relatives. At NursePartners our private nurses are properly screened for compassion and competence. They are equipped to assist your loved ones with their medical and day-to-day needs. Contact us today by calling 610-323-.9800 for a free consultation.

Carole receives the first dose of her COVID-19 vaccination

Posted on January 24, 2021 by Peter R. Abraldes

Our Clinical Specialist, Carole Derr, BSN, receives her first COVID-19 vaccination in an auditorium last week. She has been working tirelessly since March, enforcing our protocols hands on, including visiting your clients at their personal homes and apartments at facilities. The first round of vaccinations continues to be administered to those in Tier 1A, including nurses.

Tier 1A includes others outside of nurses and other types of frontline workers. The Pennsylvania Department of Health lists the details on their website, including a map with sites for vaccinations. This information can be assessed here: COVID-19 Vaccine (pa.gov).

Want to hear more from us? Like our Facebook page here: NursePartners | Facebook or Linkedin .

Lakeya meets with PAC Trainer at our site in Philadelphia

Posted on May 25, 2019 by NursePartners

NursePartners’ Senior Recruiter, Lakeya Dula, completes her training to become a PAC certified dementia coach. After on site training in Baltimore with Teepa Snow, Rebekah Wilson visited us at the NursePartners office in Philadelphia. Rebekah served as Lakeya’s mentor throughout these past 8 weeks. Lakeya and Rebekah used the PAC materials and tools from the course to increase Lakeya’s confidence in becoming an effective coach to our carepartners.

The Positive Approach to Care (PAC) methodology was created by Teepa Snow in response to the shortcomings of other dementia progression models. Other models seemed to focus on the cognitive decline, versus emphasizing what the person could still do. Each in the last stage (Pearl), a person still exists behind the ugly façade of the disease. Teepa sought to teach others how to connect before providing care, which is the bedrock of any effective carepartner relationship.

As a dementia coach, Lakeya plays a fundamental role in training each carepartner before they begin working with us. Lakeya leads a dementia workshop where we act out various difficult situations with our carepartners. NursePartners’ admin takes on the role of our clients and the carepartners show us how they would respond in a given situation. Carepartners consent to being video recorded. This allows them to watch their own interaction later, from the view of the client. This activity helps them break preconceived conceptions and to adapt their own care approaches to become more effective carepartners.

During this workshop, carepartners learn about the GEM levels, the Positive Physical Approach to Care, and receive a general overview of dementia. Afterwards, carepartners must complete additional training in order to become eligible to work with any of our clients living with dementia.

Lakeya is the third member of the NursePartners administrative team to complete a certification with Teepa Snow. Angela Geiger embraced the methodology as the basis to create the GEM division in 2012. She became certified as the company’s PAC dementia trainer in additional to another national certification as a dementia practitioner. Peter Abraldes developed the dementia program with Angela in 2016 to make this training a requirement for any carepartner working with a client living with dementia. At this time, all other admin members were trained as well. This prepared us to respond to any issue arising from clients, family members of clients, or carepartners.

NursePartners also provides training to family members and other organizations as requested. We have seem the effectiveness of this approach in the field and always glad to help others provide more effective care to their loved ones or clients.

dementia coach Philadelphia, best care Philadelphia — Lakeya received her PAC certified dementia coach certificate!

NursePartners looks for carepartners at local career fair

Posted on September 22, 2018 by Peter R. Abraldes

NursePartners was proud to participate in the career fair hosted by the Philadelphia Regional Library system. Our two delegates were Lakeya Dula, Senior Recruiter and Dementia Coach, and Nafeesah Mays, Certified Nursing Assistant (“CarePartner”). NursePartners is looking for CNAs, LPNs, and RNs who specialize in geriatric care. We are always growing our team and want dependable CarePartners to work in consistent care teams. We offer assignments (not “shifts”) in three company divisions: traditional home care, GEM (dementia care), and staffing at our partner facilities. Carepartners receive the detailed plan of care and report before arriving for a first assignment with a new client.

If you are interested in joining our team, please complete an application online for the desired position: https://www.nursepartners.org/about/employment/

Lakeya Dula executes the entire hiring process, beginning with a screen, personality assessment, interview at the Philadelphia Office, executive huddle, background and drug screen tests, orientation, dementia workshop, and additional dementia training. She seeks personable and dependable CNAs for all three company divisions. NursePartners is looking for carepartners that want to make a difference in the lives of older adults. As an executive team, we proceed with each hire only after asking ourselves: “Would we want this CarePartner to care for an older adult in our family”? If so, we are confident to place them in the homes of our clients.

Nafeesah Mays has made an exceptional impression on seven of our clients. As a CarePartner with more than 16 years of working experience in home care and long-term care and assisted living communities, we are happy to have her as part of the team. As part of the orientation process, Nafeesah participated in an orientation that included a dementia workshop. During the workshop, dementia coaches role play difficult scenarios with carepartners to see how they might respond with our clients. Role plays are filmed and played back to the CarePartner so that they can see themselves from the eyes of the client. Nafeesah is in the process of completing additional dementia training.

The 10 Warning Signs of Alzheimer’s Disease

Posted on January 15, 2018 by Peter R. Abraldes

The Alzheimer’s Association presents the following as warnings signs of Alzheimer’s disease:

Memory loss that disrupts daily life
Challenges in planning or solving problems
Difficulty completing familiar tasks at home, work, or leisure
Confusion with time or place
Trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships
New problems with words in speaking or writing
Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps
Decreased or poor judgment
Withdrawal from work or social activities
Changes in mood and personality

As we age, our organs do not perform as before. The brain is no exception. Some natural cognitive decline is natural. When presenting the early warning signs, it is important that we put each warning sign in its proper context.

It is also important to remember that each person has their own baseline. We do not all have the same skills or personalities. Life experiences and family relationships also impact how we develop as individuals. In order to receive a proper diagnosis, a physician must take the time to fully understand the personality and life experiences. Other factors such as stress, depression, and vitamin deficiencies might be to blame.

Memory loss that disrupts daily life
- Forgetting the names of new classroom of students is normal. This is different from being unable to remember the name of your spouse or children (if you have a few!). Typically we forget names, but are able to remember them on our own later.
Challenges in planning or solving problems
- This is relative to your problem solving skills when you were younger. If these skills were never strong, they will also be weak as an older adult.
Difficulty completing familiar tasks at home, work, or leisure.
- The key word is “familiar”. If you have never been good at folding clothes, this is not a familiar task, and therefore there is no cause for concern that you still cannot do it well.
Confusion with time or place
- It is normal to write the year wrong in January or to think it is Tuesday when it is in fact Wednesday. Life stresses causing us to loose track of the passage of small periods of time. However, it is not normal to perceive yourself as being in the opposite season or many years in the past.
Trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships
- Vision generally worsens as we age. Older adults aged 75+ typically have peripheral vision of about 45 degrees in each direction. Older adults living with dementia will develop tunnel vision. Eventually this vision becomes binocular and then monocular. They will also have issues gauging distance while driving or recognizing the depth perception of items in a room.
New problems with words in speaking or writing
- Some older adults may have a stutter or become timid in large group settings. Their energy level or stress can also impact their ability to speak well. We also all forget the names of items, especially words that we use infrequently. It is not normal to forget words that are common to our every day life. If we forget them, we may remember them by mentioning other related words. If we think of the common word after this activity, this may be a sign of a developing cognitive impairment.
Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps
- We all loose our keys, unless we are very disciplined! We may leave them in our pockets, put them on the counter, or periodically forget to even bring them out of the car. These are all normal acts. What is abnormal is putting keys in the fruit bowl, refrigerator, or give them to a friendly stranger.
Decreased or poor judgment
- Related to the above, poor judgment might be falling victim to a sweepstakes scam or donating more than you can afford. We all have different levels of judgment, but typically this decline is hard to uncover in family and friends.
Withdrawal from work or social activities
- This is especially relevant for extroverts. If a person finds themselves suddenly lost in a conversation this could be an issue. However, we should consider other issues such as depression or exhaustion. Introverts may avoid social activities, but enjoy gatherings among family and a few friends. If these behaviors change over the course of months or years, this might be cause for concern.
Changes in mood and personality
- These are differences that arise over the course of the medium and long term. Keep in mind that life experiences can also permanently impact one’s personality. It is important to take the time to understand if traumatic incidents are to blame.

National Aging in Place Council Comes to Philadelphia

Posted on January 11, 2017 by Peter R. Abraldes

NursePartners, in partnership with National Aging in Place Council Philadelphia members, are pleased to announce the formation of the NEW Philadelphia chapter.

The National Aging in Place Council (NAIPC) is a non-profit association of service providers dedicated to working together to help people in their later years live a healthy and comfortable life in the home of their choice.

Members of the Philadelphia Chapter include geriatric care managers, elder care attorneys, home care and home health care professionals, dementia experts, financial planners, home remodeling, caregiver support groups, and moving services.

The mission of the Philadelphia Chapter is to support the residents of Philadelphia and the surrounding areas by providing products and services to retiring seniors that allow them to remain in their homes comfortably, independently and safely. In addition, our goal is to educate the public through hosting educational events throughout the year about the importance of planning ahead.

If your goal is to age in place, we urge you to take advantage of our senior support network. We can help ensure you have a plan, understand all available resources, and assist you so that you can remain independent in the home of your choice.

If you are interested in learning more about Philadelphia NAIPC or to view upcoming events, visit our chapter page at www.ageinplace.org/Local-Chapters/Philadelphia-PA or by emailing Philadelphia@ageinplace.org.

Informative articles and links to local providers and services can be found at the NAIPC website at http://www.ageinplace.org.

Consider joining our support group in south Philadelphia

Posted on December 5, 2016 by Peter R. Abraldes

CAregivers REducing Stress (CARES)

Are you informally taking care of an older adult: a spouse, parent, sibling, friend or neighbor? Whether you help out full-time or just a few hours a week, caregiving is hard work and can be a strain on your emotional, psychological, financial, and physical well-being. Maybe you work at the same time, or have a family of your own to take care of, too. Maybe you’re just too exhausted to keep on top of it all. This monthly meet-up group is for informal (non-professional) caregivers of older adults. It is a space to share your experiences and learn from other caregivers who are in a similar position.

The group will be organized and facilitated by Sarina Issenberg, a Licensed Social Worker and counselor with CARES, a caregiver support program at Lutheran Settlement House. Additional times, locations, and events can be arranged. Please call or email with any questions!

NursePartners attends Inspired Service Recognition Dinner in support of Presby’s Inspired Life

Posted on October 24, 2016 by Peter R. Abraldes

Angela Geiger, CEO, CDP and Founder of NursePartners, and Peter Abraldes, Director of Operations, attended the Inspired Service Recognition Dinner last night in support of Presby’s Inspired Life.

The dinner was held in recognition of Patricia S. Scott, whose philanthropy efforts have improved the delivery of care at Rydal Park. The proceeds from the event and auction go to enable benevolent care and life-enrichment programs. Presby’s Inspired Life has over 30 communities, some of which are affording housing communities. 73% of the residents in these affordable housing communities report incomes less than $10,000 per year. Almost $5 million goes to support residents who cannot afford their own care each year.

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