Home and Community Care Nursing Handbook
About this Handbook
This Home and Community Care Nursing Handbook is a tool designed to assist First Nations and Inuit Communities in promoting the effective and safe practice of Home Care nursing. It also provides information with respect to the recruitment and employment of nurses.
This Handbook is intended for:
- Administrators/Managers of community/tribal/regional First Nations and Inuit health organizations and authorities; and
- Home and Community Care Nurses employed or contracted by these organizations to provide nursing services within their respective community(ies).
While the needs of each group are distinct, there is information relevant to both groups contained within this handbook. To avoid duplication and maximize efficiency, one comprehensive handbook has been created as a resource for both groups.
This Handbook is a guide and provides specific references to applicable program policies and guidelines. The handbook is designed to provide general guidelines and information, with the goal being to increase understanding of the nursing profession and the practice of Home Care nursing. This increased understanding will support Home and Community Care service delivery in First Nations and Inuit communities.
The aim of planning, developing and implementing the Home and Community Care Program is:
- to build and sustain an effective Home and Community Care service for all First Nations and Inuit communities;
- to provide services that meet the assessed needs of community members;
- to ensure that the services can be provided as long as they are needed;
- to establish a foundation for making the program better as the years go by; and
- to promote understanding about the scope and parameters within Home and Community Care.
The planning, development and implementation processes are ever evolving. This ensures Home and Community Care services continually adapt to new and innovative ways of responding to the needs of each First Nation and Inuit community within resource allocation limitations.
Throughout the handbook, references are made to standards and policies templates. These references apply to the templates developed by Health Canada with St. Elizabeth Health Care (2000) for the program. While it is recognized that many communities have developed their own policies and procedures, for the purposes of this handbook references will be made only to the aforementioned templates.
A CD-ROM sample Reference Kit accompanies this handbook. It contains copies of other documents and forms that are referenced throughout this document.
The Home and Community Care Nursing Handbook is intended to complement the First Nation and Inuit, Home and Community Care Planning Resource Kit (2000).
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