[tarakochRN]

I have been asked to work a private duty case that doesn't seem diffcult. But that isn't my concern. What do I need to do to protect myself. I assume I should get my own insurance because I will not be working for home care company. She will be making the check out to me. I have always worked in the hospital or for a home care company. please tell me how to protect myself and what to look out for. Thanks!!

[GoLytely]

As a "private contractor" who works private duty we are required by the company that hires us to carry our own malpractice insurance through NSO. This can be pricey if private contracting is your only means of work. If you are an employee somewhere(even PRN) the cost is $98/year, if you are strictly self-employed it is $300/year.

This set up might cause some tax headaches. A safe thing to do is take 15% of everything you make and set it aside for the tax man--you get no breaks as a self-employed contractor.

[wendyh]

I've been working as an independent RN for more than 2 years and I'm loving it. It's so nice to be able to do a great job. In hospital nursing I so often felt at the end of the day that I had failed so many of my patients by not having the necessary time to meet their needs to my standards. My standards would be how I would like to be cared for myself!
A dificult aspect for me has been keeping up on licensure, CPR, hippa, certifications etc. on my own. There's no hospital dept. making sure I get CPR redone every two years. I'll tell ya, those years go by so fast. It's harder to keep up on that stuff then I ever thought it would be.
I'm a much better nurse then a clerical person!
Good luck to you,
Wendy

[caliotter3]

The client I worked private duty for treated me (and the others) as her employees. Her CPA kept her books and she issued us checks and pay stubs just like a regular employer. Her CPA took out all the regular taxes: federal, state, FICA, etc. This made it really easy for me. Didn't have to figure anything out or keep money aside for the tax man.

Downside for being privately employed: even though I really loved the patient and the extended family and everything about caring for this patient; the patient's mom did have expectations that I was to place her family's needs higher than my other priorities. She was well aware that I was also working for other hh agencies and clients, yet she expected me to put her and her family member first. This caused a conflict of interest when I couldn't be everywhere at once and had to choose.