What is a responsibility of home health nurses regarding patient medication?

Home health nurses play a critical role in managing patient medication. One of their primary responsibilities is to administer prescribed medications and educate patients about them. This dual role ensures that patients receive their medications correctly and understand their purpose, potential side effects, and the importance of adherence to the prescribed treatment regimen.

By educating patients, home health nurses empower them to take an active role in their own health care, which can enhance medication adherence and improve health outcomes. This is essential in a home health setting where patients may have chronic conditions and complexities in their medication regimens.

In contrast, the responsibilities to prescribe new medications typically fall to licensed providers such as physicians or nurse practitioners, not home health nurses. Stopping a medication regimen without guidance from a supervising provider could put a patient at risk and is not in the scope of practice for home health nurses. Lastly, solely keeping records of medications without administering them would undermine the nurse's role in patient care and support, which focuses on active patient engagement in their health management.