Nurse for the Moment

Nurse for the Moment is a compilation of my observations and reflections during two years of assignments as an independent nurse contractor visiting more than 1,027 patient-families in the greater metropolitan Boston and Lowell regions. Nurse for the Moment is a narrative journal, tape-recorded at the close of the day's work, and later transcribed. In this journal format, I have described the role and responsibilities of the independent nurse contractor, the diversity of patient-families, their complex medical and social problems, and the impact of environmental conditions and patients' health insurance status on the nurse's performance. I have also sought to describe the depth of knowledge, experience, and confidence, which are necessary to provide accurate assessments, treatment, instruction and evaluation of patients on a single visit basis. There are numerous in-depth descriptions of clinical interventions with patient-families that could serve as exemplars for community health nurses. I believe my story is one of great relevance and importance to health policy experts, to administrators of home health agencies, to nurse faculties of schools of nursing and to nurses who are considering the new and challenging field of independent contracting.