[nurse hobbit]

Well today is the big day for me. I meet with my first pt at 4:00 pm to get orientated with my pt and his mom.

I am excited and nervous yet I know I can do this. Little info, 20ym with Cerebral Palsey, MR and with a GT. He only needs 24 hrs of care a week and I get to choose what days I will give the care. Any three afternoons I want!

It is from 3-9pm the time he gets home from school to bedtime which happens to be the same time Mom gets home from work, within an hour or so.


I sure hope this works out for both of us, cause I d not want to return to the hospital on a very busy med/surge floor that is always understaffed, over worked and most of the nurse are burned out yet afraid of change.

Have a great day all!

[ArwenEvenstar]

Hi nurse hobbit! I think I recently interacted with some of your posts on the med-error thread. Anyways...I too was a burned out hospital nurse 3 years ago now and switched to private duty (PD) nursing. Although PD does have some "issues", overall, I like it and have been on two cases in the last 3 years. My one case was similar to your situation...I took care of the child in the evening after they got home from school. Compared to the chaos of the hospital, PD is a much more relaxed environment.

Some say you will lose skills by doing only PD. This is true. However, I have also gained some new skills. Such as ventilator experience, trach experience, and many respiratory skills. I do respiratory things in the home that only respiratory therapists were permitted to do at the hospital.

It is important to keep a professional boundary with PD cases. Different families can respond/cope in different ways to having a long term disabled child. It can be easy for the nurse to get "sucked in" and lose objectivity if she is not careful to keep a professional boundary.

I wish you the best with your first PD case! I think you'll like it. I'm still at it after 3 years and would still NEVER (and I mean NEVER!) go back to the hospital. Some of the psycho-social issues you have to deal with in PD at times , is nothing compared to the overall stress and chaos of the hospital.

[iceyspots]

Good luck!

[nurse hobbit]

Originally Posted by ArwenEvenstar

Hi nurse hobbit! I think I recently interacted with some of your posts on the med-error thread. Anyways...I too was a burned out hospital nurse 3 years ago now and switched to private duty (PD) nursing. Although PD does have some "issues", overall, I like it and have been on two cases in the last 3 years. My one case was similar to your situation...I took care of the child in the evening after they got home from school. Compared to the chaos of the hospital, PD is a much more relaxed environment.

Some say you will lose skills by doing only PD. This is true. However, I have also gained some new skills. Such as ventilator experience, trach experience, and many respiratory skills. I do respiratory things in the home that only respiratory therapists were permitted to do at the hospital.

It is important to keep a professional boundary with PD cases. Different families can respond/cope in different ways to having a long term disabled child. It can be easy for the nurse to get "sucked in" and lose objectivity if she is not careful to keep a professional boundary.

I wish you the best with your first PD case! I think you'll like it. I'm still at it after 3 years and would still NEVER (and I mean NEVER!) go back to the hospital. Some of the psycho-social issues you have to deal with in PD at times , is nothing compared to the overall stress and chaos of the hospital.

Thanks so much, The time went by really quickly. The pt was so sweet and easy to take care of.

The mother was just a little anal, but after she watched me draw up his meds and takl to him the whole time, she relaxed some.

The office called today and said the mom was really impressed with me and wanted me to return for the rest of the week.

You are right, it is a diffirent atomsphere. The work wasn't that hard. The only thing I see and feel uneasy with is, that the pt is a very high risk for aspiration, has a GT and is NPO, yet the family will still give him very small bites of food and sips of drinks. The mother did tell me that if I wan't comfortable doing this , no problem at all.

I will be working with this pt and family till about the end of May for 3days a week.


I was so burned out from the hospital and will not work there full time or part time, maybe PRN.

Thanks so much for the words of wisdom and advice!

I look forward to chatting more .