How to Choose and Check a Private Duty Nurse
Check six things before the first shift: the nurse's license, the provider's state license and accreditation, whether the nurse is an employee or a contractor, how backup works, who supervises, and how fast they respond. Each item below says where to verify it yourself, rather than taking a provider's word for it.
The checklist
- Licensure: every nurse on the case holds an active RN or LPN license valid in your state.How to check: Look the nurse up for free on Nursys.com (QuickConfirm), which covers most state boards of nursing, or on your state board's own site. A multistate license under the Nurse Licensure Compact is valid in other compact states. Check for discipline on the record.
- Provider license: the agency or registry is licensed by your state, if your state requires it.How to check: Ask for the license number and confirm it with your state health department's facility or home care licensing search.
- Accreditation: the agency is accredited by a recognized body.How to check: Look the agency up on the accreditor's own site: ACHC (achc.org), CHAP (chapinc.org) or The Joint Commission (qualitycheck.org). Accreditation is voluntary, so its absence is a question, not a verdict.
- Employment status: you know whether the nurse is the provider's employee (W-2) or an independent contractor.How to check: Ask in writing. If a contractor, ask who carries liability insurance, who pays taxes, and what happens if the nurse is hurt in your home. IRS Publication 926 explains when a family becomes the employer.
- Insurance: the provider carries professional liability and workers' compensation insurance.How to check: Ask for a certificate of insurance. For an independent nurse, ask for their own malpractice policy.
- Backup coverage: there is a written plan for when the scheduled nurse can't come.How to check: Ask who the backup nurses are by name, how much notice you get, and how many scheduled hours the provider failed to fill last month.
- Supervision: a registered nurse assesses the patient, writes the plan of care and visits to supervise.How to check: Ask for the supervising RN's name, how often they visit, and to see the plan of care before the first shift.
- Response time: you know how fast intake and the on-call nurse answer.How to check: Ask the hours intake is staffed and what number reaches a nurse at 2am. Call it once yourself before you sign.
- Skills match: the nurses have recent experience with this patient's equipment and condition.How to check: Ask how they were trained (for example, pediatric trach and vent care) and when their skills were last checked.
- Cost in writing: you have the rates and terms before care starts.How to check: Get hourly rates, minimum shift, overnight, weekend and holiday rates, deposits, fees and cancellation terms in writing.
Questions to ask at the first call
- Which of our needs can you staff, and which can't you?
- When could the first shift realistically happen?
- How many different nurses would we see in a typical month?
- What happens if we're unhappy with a nurse?
- Can you bill our payer, and will you check our coverage before care starts?
Red flags
- Can't or won't give a license number for the agency or the nurses.
- Asks for a large deposit or a long contract before an assessment.
- No named supervising RN, or no plan of care.
- Vague answers about who fills a missed shift.
- Pressure to decide on the first call.
Comparing provider types rather than individual providers? The full ranking sets out what each type does and doesn't take off your hands.
Ask Vantor Care to call you
For families in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia or Tennessee. Run through the checklist with an intake coordinator.