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What does a Private Duty Nurse do?

Updated January 8, 2025
8 min read
What does a Private Duty Nurse do

A private duty nurse is responsible for providing quality health care services for a specific patient's medical needs. Private duty nurses work within a large health care institution or in a private household setting, depending on their scope and availability. They assist the medical staff in administering medications for the patients, conducting medical procedures, evaluating the patients' condition, and reporting progress and any updates to the attending physician for immediate attention. A private duty nurse must be highly attentive, especially on supporting the patient's daily activities and self-care needs.

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Private duty nurse responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real private duty nurse resumes:

  • Manage Ventriculostomies and interpret ICP and CVP readings.
  • Manage patient care monitoring vital signs, performing physical assessment, checking patients medications for effectiveness.
  • Communicate with medicaid, and insurance companies to ensure patients receive appropriate care and payment of procedures and medication.
  • Provide daily assessments, ADL's medication management and any necessary medical treatments.
  • Monitor ventilator and oxygen saturation regularly; offer medication, treatments, and tracheostomy care.
  • Provide care to home bound individuals with tracheostomy, ventilator assistance patients, administration of medications, referrals
  • Key responsibilities include triage, documentation, preparation of patients for medical examinations and/or procedures and treatments.
  • Experience in both ER and PACU.
  • Have given hundreds of flu shots.
  • Administer care to ICU and med/surg clients.
  • Administer oral and iv medication per doctor's order.
  • Maintain ACLS as required while working in this department.
  • Work as ICU staff in absence of procedure schedule.
  • Care for post-op patients ranging from day surgery to SICU.
  • Provide care for babies immediately after birth, re-cover moms in PACU

Private duty nurse skills and personality traits

We calculated that 34% of Private Duty Nurses are proficient in Home Health, Patients, and Medication Administration. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Compassion, and Detail oriented.

We break down the percentage of Private Duty Nurses that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Home Health, 34%

    Home Health care of patients included dressing changes and medication administration

  • Patients, 31%

    Provided care for pediatric patients suffering from severe congenital disorders to include respiratory, cardiac, and gastrointestinal anomalies.

  • Medication Administration, 3%

    Provide and reinforce patient/family teaching on patient current condition, including medication administration, dressing changes and nutrition.

  • Hospice Care, 3%

    Provide hospice care and daily needs assistance for the patient and family in end of life situations.

  • Vital Signs, 3%

    Administered medications, supervised therapies, assessed risk for injuries, prevented elopement and documented medication side effects and vital signs.

  • Trach Care, 3%

    Administered prescribed medications, performed advanced wound care, placed, changed and maintained G-Tubes, provided trach and vent care.

Most private duty nurses use their skills in "home health," "patients," and "medication administration" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential private duty nurse responsibilities here:

Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a private duty nurse to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "registered nurses must be able to communicate effectively with patients in order to understand their concerns and evaluate their health conditions." Private duty nurses often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "supervised extensive medication administration to include monitoring and physician communication regarding side effects and benefits. "

Compassion. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling private duty nurse duties is compassion. The role rewards competence in this skill because "registered nurses should be caring and empathetic when working with patients." According to a private duty nurse resume, here's how private duty nurses can utilize compassion in their job responsibilities: "provided total patient care, including medication management and daily living assistance, ensuring compassionate care. "

Detail oriented. private duty nurses are also known for detail oriented, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to private duty nurse responsibilities, because "registered nurses must be precise because they must ensure that patients get the correct treatments and medicines at the right time." A private duty nurse resume example shows how detail oriented is used in the workplace: "oriented new nurses to home health care cases"

Emotional stability. A big part of what private duty nurses do relies on "emotional stability." You can see how essential it is to private duty nurse responsibilities because "registered nurses need emotional resilience and the ability to cope with human suffering, emergencies, and other stressors." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical private duty nurse tasks: "provided behavioral/emotional support and supervision for those with chronic conditions and hospice and ventilator dependent patients in home setting. "

Organizational skills. A commonly-found skill in private duty nurse job descriptions, "organizational skills" is essential to what private duty nurses do. Private duty nurse responsibilities rely on this skill because "nurses often work with multiple patients who have a variety of health needs." You can also see how private duty nurse duties rely on organizational skills in this resume example: "contributed to organizational growth initiatives as active member of patient education. "

Physical stamina. Another skill commonly found on private duty nurse job descriptions is "physical stamina." It can come up quite often in private duty nurse duties, since "nurses should be comfortable performing physical tasks, such as lifting patients." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day private duty nurse responsibilities: "tube feeding, medication administration, and physical assessment"

Most common private duty nurse skills

The three companies that hire the most private duty nurses are:

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Compare different private duty nurses

Private duty nurse vs. Nurse educator

A nurse educator is responsible for teaching aspiring professional nurses, designing courses according to the curriculum, and organizing activities to practice and enhance the students' knowledge. Nurse educators manage clinical activities and observe the students' performance in actual training. They must have excellent knowledge of the medical industry, as well as its practices, to respond to the students' inquiries and concerns accurately. A nurse educator identifies the students' strengths and weaknesses, develop comprehensive lesson plans, and strategizing various nursing programs.

We looked at the average private duty nurse salary and compared it with the wages of a nurse educator. Generally speaking, nurse educators are paid $12,465 higher than private duty nurses per year.While their salaries may differ, the common ground between private duty nurses and nurse educators are a few of the skills required in each roleacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities. In both careers, employee duties involve skills like home health, patients, and medication administration.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, private duty nurse responsibilities require skills like "hospice care," "trach care," "adl," and "tracheostomy care." Meanwhile a typical nurse educator has skills in areas such as "bls," "bsn," "professional development," and "cpr." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

Nurse educators earn the highest salaries when working in the pharmaceutical industry, with an average yearly salary of $94,493. On the other hand, private duty nurses are paid more in the government industry with an average salary of $58,981.On average, nurse educators reach higher levels of education than private duty nurses. Nurse educators are 17.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 1.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Private duty nurse vs. Nurse extern

The job of a nurse extern is to assist the mentor nurse in their nursing duties. They help the mentor nurse in various medical procedures such as administering medications or starting intravenous therapies. They provide or help with personal patient care, including changing bed linens, oral hygiene, and bathing. Nurse externships typically have different requirements that include having finished nursing school, completing a clinical nursing course before the training, and being registered in a nursing program.

Nurse extern positions earn lower pay than private duty nurse roles. They earn a $18,362 lower salary than private duty nurses per year.A few skills overlap for private duty nurses and nurse externs. Resumes from both professions show that the duties of each career rely on skills like "patients," "medication administration," and "vital signs. "

Each career also uses different skills, according to real private duty nurse resumes. While private duty nurse responsibilities can utilize skills like "home health," "hospice care," "trach care," and "quality care," nurse externs use skills like "cpr," "direct supervision," "medical-surgical," and "infection control."

On average, nurse externs earn a lower salary than private duty nurses. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, nurse externs earn the most pay in the health care industry with an average salary of $39,085. Whereas private duty nurses have higher pay in the government industry, with an average salary of $58,981.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Nurse externs tend to reach similar levels of education than private duty nurses. In fact, they're 1.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Private duty nurse vs. Clinical research nurse

A clinical research nurse is responsible for conducting research studies on various health conditions, illness treatments, and healthcare methodologies, analyzing existing scientific research to make new reports. Clinical research nurses also communicate with other health professionals and health organizations for their insights and recommendations for a specific medical study, ensuring to report their findings to doctors and medical researchers for further validation and clinical trials. A clinical research nurse must have excellent knowledge of communication, both written and spoken, as well as expertise in the medical industry.

An average clinical research nurse eans a higher salary compared to the average salary of private duty nurses. The difference in salaries amounts to clinical research nurses earning a $4,829 higher average salary than private duty nurses.private duty nurses and clinical research nurses both have job responsibilities that require similar skill sets. These similarities include skills such as "home health," "patients," and "medication administration," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a private duty nurse is likely to be skilled in "hospice care," "trach care," "adl," and "tracheostomy care," while a typical clinical research nurse is skilled in "bls," "acute care," "acls," and "surgery."

Clinical research nurses earn the best pay in the education industry, where they command an average salary of $61,917. Private duty nurses earn the highest pay from the government industry, with an average salary of $58,981.When it comes to education, clinical research nurses tend to earn higher degree levels compared to private duty nurses. In fact, they're 5.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Private duty nurse vs. Advanced registered nurse practitioner

An advanced registered nurse practitioner (ARNP) is responsible for patient care. An ARNP may practice independently or work with other healthcare professionals such as physicians. Your duties typically include examining patients and determining diagnosis by physical examination, patient history, and other medical assessments, admitting, managing, and discharging patients to and from medical facilities, and managing health care by developing, implementing, and evaluating treatment and care plans for patients. You will also be responsible for referring patients to other health care service providers or facilities.

Advanced registered nurse practitioners tend to earn a higher pay than private duty nurses by an average of $42,302 per year.According to resumes from private duty nurses and advanced registered nurse practitioners, some of the skills necessary to complete the responsibilities of each role are similar. These skills include "home health," "patients," and "iv. "

Even though a few skill sets overlap between private duty nurses and advanced registered nurse practitioners, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a private duty nurse might have more use for skills like "medication administration," "hospice care," "vital signs," and "trach care." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of advanced registered nurse practitioners require skills like "arnp," "primary care," "diagnosis," and "rehabilitation. "

The health care industry tends to pay the highest salaries for advanced registered nurse practitioners, with average annual pay of $103,277. Comparatively, the highest private duty nurse annual salary comes from the government industry.In general, advanced registered nurse practitioners hold higher degree levels compared to private duty nurses. Advanced registered nurse practitioners are 47.7% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 2.6% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of private duty nurse

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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