EVERY HOME CARE PATIENT VISIT COUNTS

WHEREAS, healthcare is a billion dollar industry largely driven by employers seeking financial profits, often at the expense of quality patient care; and

WHEREAS, home care provides at-home visits by a registered professional nurse based upon patients requiring skilled nursing care; and

WHEREAS, home care visits by nurses cannot be confined to a specific amount of time given that each visit requires nurses to review patients' needs, educate them about their illnesses, assess their knowledge of their illnesses and provide health education in an appropriate manner based on patients' levels of education, cultural and socioeconomic factors, religious background and needs; and

WHEREAS, employers seek additional productivity by demanding that each home care nurse see a minimum number of patients each day without regard for the specific needs of individual patients; and

WHEREAS, home care visits by nurses may require the performance of complicated dressings, medication review, assessments of essential body functions, establishing an appropriate nursing care plan and completing a lengthy document required by each home care agency; and

WHEREAS, home care employers often discipline nurses for an alleged lack of productivity or low numbers of patient visits without regard to circumstances requiring additional time in the home; and

WHEREAS, people should not be treated as products on an assembly line but as individuals who deserve respect, dignity and individualized care:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers help all healthcare locals negotiate strong contracts allowing nurses to determine the needs of individual patients and provide quality healthcare in an appropriate timeframe allowing for respect and dignity. Each person deserves individual care that cannot be limited by a particular amount of time. Homecare should never be an assembly line, but rather a place where each person gets the care they deserve; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT endeavor to educate the public and legislators and work collaboratively with other patient care groups to support quality homecare.