[deniseS]

Hi, For the home health nurses that take call. Is it often you are called out in the middle of the night? I may accept a position as a home health RN..But I have to take call 1 weekend Friday to monday a month...and I have a toddler at home..Not sure if this would be a good job..If I have to leave during the night often..Thanks so much

[TazziRN]

You will have nights when the phone won't ring, and other nights when it seems to ring every hour. You learn to do phone triage. What my preceptor told me was "The only things that require you to go out right away is a blocked Foley or and IV problem. Almost anything else can be dealt with on the phone or wait until morning."

[dusky1228]

I think this depends on the size and scope of the agency, and the types of clients they cover. My agency, for example, requires that the On Call RN does pronouncements as part of the scope of the job. Also included is blocked Foleys and IV's. Since there are a large number of Hospice patients, and the on call nurse also does this at night (Hospice nurses pronounce during the daytime), being called out often is a nightly event. And sometimes a several times a night event.....
This is not always true, but be aware of the possiblities and plan for them if you decide to take the job.

[DutchgirlRN]

Originally Posted by TazziRN

You will have nights when the phone won't ring, and other nights when it seems to ring every hour. You learn to do phone triage. What my preceptor told me was "The only things that require you to go out right away is a blocked Foley or and IV problem. Almost anything else can be dealt with on the phone or wait until morning."

Ditto Tazzi. I never went out at night while on call. If it's important enough that they need to see a nurse (minus foley and IV problems) then they need to go to the ER. We did not have any hospice patients.
You'll love HH. It's nursing best kept secret. IMO.

[caliotter3]

If you take a patient care position, then you won't be on-call unless you agree to it. I had set shifts for certain patients. I told my agencies that I would be on-call only for patients that I had previously seen and was familiar with and if they called me at least two hours before the start of the shift so I would have time to get ready. Otherwise, they kept me busy doing my scheduled shifts and sometimes overtime. There are some nurses who will go out on a moment's notice, but I prefer not to do this. Try to get a patient care job. You will have less responsibilities and more opportunity to enjoy your patients.

[bebop1]

I have been in home health now for 3.5 years, and have yet to go out once past 8pm. and that call was because they caregive was scared the trach was coming out. I have too kids, and my husband is military. so I understand being scared. But most important part of home health is teaching. and that is what I spend a lot of time on. Most of our cath patients caregivers know how to flush their cath's per MD orders only of course, and IV's...is usually given so often per only dial flow at least where I am. Like someone said before. Home health is freedom especially when ya have kids. most of the time you can take care of the prob over the phone...or first thing the next day. But I live in a small community, so I am not sure about a bigger area. so that may be different. But I guess thats my 2 cents!

[renerian]

In the 20 years I have done homecare, I went out more often than others have.

renerian