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Community nursing

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Community health nurses work with people and their families to help prevent disease, maintain health and treat any existing health problems.

Community nurses aim to support and maintain patient independence, safety and a healthy lifestyle, at the same time as helping a patient’s carer.

A community health nurse is able to provide services including:

care after a hospital stay
general nursing care, including assistance with chronic conditions
'hospital in the home' services, which provide hospital-type care outside of the hospital
palliative care nursing assistance, for people who have a life-limiting illness and require support to stay at home
wound management

Follow the links below to find trusted information relating to community nursing.

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Last reviewed: August 2020

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Community Child Health Program | WA Health

Community child health nurses support all families with young children. We provide a range of important free services to support families to raise happy, healthy children. We offer health and development assessments and screening, immunisation advice and support to families with young children.

Read more on WA Health website

Managing Daily Life - How to Care - Patients and Carers - Community

Accepting help as a carer can help you to cope. Caring for someone who is seriously ill can be demanding. Having help with basic tasks like shopping, housework, or gardening can help you to cope.

Read more on CareSearch website

What does a child health nurse do?

A child health nurse supports you as a parent once you are home from hospital with a newborn baby. Discover more about their role and how they can help you.

Read more on Pregnancy, Birth & Baby website

Who Provides Palliative Care - What is Palliative Care - Patients and Carers - Community

Health professionals provide palliative care often with help from families. Palliative care focuses on quality of life and support for individual physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs.

Read more on CareSearch website

Who Provides Palliative Care?

Health professionals provide palliative care often with help from families. Palliative care focuses on quality of life and support for individual physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs.

Read more on palliAGED website

Managing Daily Life

Accepting help as a carer can help you to cope. Caring for someone who is seriously ill can be demanding. Having help with basic tasks like shopping, housework, or gardening can help you to cope.

Read more on palliAGED website

Find a palliative care service provider | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care

Finding the right palliative care provider is an important part of getting the best care for you. There are different types of care providers and different locations where you can receive care.

Read more on Department of Health and Aged Care website

Flying Doctor clinics | Royal Flying Doctor Service

The Royal Flying Doctor Service provides GP & Nurse clinics across rural and remote Australia to make primary health services available to the Outback

Read more on Royal Flying Doctor Service website

WWWT Worksheets/Strategies: Going it alone

A baby’s crying is very distressing to parents. It is not known why babies sometimes cry for long periods without being easily comforted. However, babies vary in the amount and intensity of crying in their first year. If babies are well fed and are not currently sick, prolonged crying might be related to being over-stimulated and over-tired. If your baby cries for periods of longer than five to ten minutes and your current soothing strategies do not seem help, perhaps your baby needs quiet

Read more on WWWT - What Were We Thinking! website

Work Together - Home Care

Working as a team means providing integrated care across services - acute, primary, home care and specialist palliative care.

Read more on End of Life Directions for Aged Care ELDAC website

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