i read a lot of allnurses posts, and i see a recurrent theme regarding home health nursing. sometimes it's regarding nurses who couldn't "cut it" in hospital nursing, and are advised to "try home health", or sometimes it's about ed nurses or critical care nurses who need "something less stressful" ... any number of situations. but the more i see it, the more agitated i get.
now, i've been around the proverbial nursing block a time or two. i'm entering my 46th year as an rn. i've done just about every kind of nursing there is, from critical care to nursing home; from med/surg to psych; from teaching to the army... and i tell you that home health nursing is the one job that pretty much incorporates every nursing specialty that exists.
consider this: you see/care for every illness, injury and disease state imaginable. your job involves all ages, from newborns to centarians. you need every nursing skill from fingersticks to infusions to catheters to ports to pacemakers to wound care to staple removal to venipuncture to patient education to g-tubes to tpn.
you are going into people's homes: some fine with housekeepers, but many filthy, roach-infested, stopped-up plumbing, tiny spaces and animals everywhere. nowhere to sit. nowhere to put down your blood pressure or wound care equipment. nowhere to actually wash your hands. a whole new nursing paradigm.
your documentation means the difference in payment and retention of the patient, or non-payment and loss of the patient.
but most important, excellent assessment skills are essential! you are alone. if you can't find a vein, there is not a cadre of other nurses to try. it's just you. you must be able to detect gi bleeds, impending heart and circulation problems, and you absolutely must recognize an emergency. you must recognize patient neglect.
and this just scrapes the surface. to tell a relatively inexperienced nurse that home health might be a "piece of nursing cake" is ludicrous. just my humble opinion, and thanks for letting me vent!
