The convalescent-home referral said that Loretta was 71 years old with the usual health problems related to stroke and diabetes. It also said that her husband had a gun and “wasn’t afraid to use it.” Fiercely protective of his wife, he’d had many disputes with the nursing staff about her care. The discharge planner who’d referred her to our home care agency insisted that two nurses make the initial home visit.

Read the rest of “The Dirtiest House in Town,” the Reflections essay in the January issue of AJN, here. And let us know your own experiences in home care nursing.

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