[kona2]

Hi there. I'm back again! I have a HH interview lined up later this month...woo hoo. :hatparty:

I'm exicted, but also nervous. (Be careful what you wish for, heh heh). It would be a big change. I've been working the med/surg floors for the past several years. I have so many questions. What would be the hallmarks of a "good" HH position? What kinds of questions should I be asking of my potential employer? Is taking call normal? How much orientation should I expect? Will I be expected to work weekends? How does pay compare to the hospital? I guess I will see when I get there. I wish I could research more ahead of time and know before going in.I have no idea if this agency is a good one to work for or not.I know as a med/surg nurse, which hospitals are the rough ones to work at and which are the nice ones. Well, I guess I will go in good faith & hope for the best!

[renerian]

How did your interview go?

renerian

[kona2]

It went well, thanks. Very nice manager. I don't know if it is a good deal or not, however, having worked in acute care. Hard to get feedback from HH RNs in my area (I don't know any).

How does this sound: $50/reg. visit, $60. to open a case, $0.31/mile, visits within one county, one week orientation. Mandatory on-call for one weekend/mo. with pay $25/day.Hmmmm.

I think the on-call bothers me the most. Also- is one week orientation enough? I am an experienced RN, but I was expecting a bit longer. What do you do when you're on-call? I've never done call...do you sleep with the pager by your pillow or what? Do you have to drive over to people's homes in the middle of the night or just trouble shoot over the phone?

They say avg. # patients you see per day is 5. Bear in mind, I live in California and make $40+ hr. in the hospital. I am working every other weekend, but no call. My reasons for going into homehealth would be a less hectic pace, more 1:1 care, autonomy, etc. I'm not sure if this is a good deal or not. They are pretty flexible with scheduling, but then again, so is my current employer.The paycut might be okay, if the caseload was manageable. Is this a good deal for the SF bay area?



Thanks!

[Hairstylingnurse]

Sounds good to me, but I'm on the LPN side of it. You'll be perfectly fine with the pt. care with several years of med surg. Just make sure of the paperwork, you may need more than a week. But don't worry, in hh if you didn't do the paperwork right, it will defiantly find it's way back to you to be corrected. I don't have to do the oasis, I hear it is a real bear. But hh has alot more positives than negatives(in my opinion). You defiantly have 1 on 1 with your pts. I love that(that is why I became a nurse). You will still be learning months down the road, I like that, because I get bored easy. Hopefully you'll find some Calif. hh nurses to compare that salary too. Please give it a try as with any nursing positions, it has it's ups and downs but it really is wonderful...... best of luck in your search P.s. I refused to take call due to small children at home, but worked Sun. when my husband was home at my discreetion.

[renerian]

That pay is really good actually, mileage a tad low/you can take the rest off your taxes/on call pay is stinkey cheap/alot of companies are cheap with on call. I agree you won't learn OASIS in 1 week.

renerian