Need advice on re-entering nursing

Nurses General Nursing

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If any of you can answer my questions/offer advice I would greatly appreciate it. I will try to make my background brief.

Graduated 6 years ago (RN,BSN). Worked in LTC for 18 months. Worked in NICU for 3.5 yrs. Went from full-time to part-time to per diem there, and ended up leaving May, 2001. Also did camp nursing last summer.

Why I left: I began homeschooling my children in 1998. Working FT or PT was out of the question. Working per diem was okay...though 7p-7a worked out best for me, but I would be wiped out the next day. Also with per diem, at times I would go 2 or 3 weeks without working. This made it very hard for me to keep my skills up...started losing confidence with vent patients, IV starts, etc...

In short, I enjoy NICU and also newborn nursery and would like to go back to that when my kids are grown. I will be honest...my kids are my priority.

Where I am now: What I really would like is to work in home health doing follow-up mom-baby or NICU discharged visits. Ideally it would be no more than 12 hours per week, per diem or per visit, so that I can keep my main focus on homeschooling.

Questions:

Am I dreaming or does a job like this really exist?

How should I best go about finding out what is out there? By calling the agencies and asking to speak with the nurse recruiter? I am afraid if I just drop off a resume it will go unnoticed.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your help! :)

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Hi Melissa!

I home schooled my son for a few of his 'difficult years'...it's a trip isn't it...but well worth it.

If you live near a metropolitan area or near a high risk OB/ NICU practice I am sure there will be something for you....as I see ads in my newspaper all the time for nurses to do home vents, trachs etc . through home care services (also through agency contracting too).

I would definitely send a resume and cover letter detailing your experience and skills and your desire for part time work to area agencies, facilities, and neonatologists' offices in your area and see what happens....bet you're going to be pleasantly surprised!

Of course, agency presents the most flexible route...I did a lot of agency work when my son was small as I could plan my shifts around my family... Good luck!:)

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Melissa:

I see no maternity unit experience on your list. Some homcare agencies do require that to do well-mom-baby visits. However, I think you would be snpped up if willing to travel in 30min area around home to do NICU baby followup and Billiruin tests. Occassionally you have newborns on meds with non-compliant moms who need to be weekly assesed and your skills would be an asset here. Work like this is sporatic. Mom Baby RNs get $40/ visit, only have 1-2 page checkoff flowsheet so much easier paperwork than most homecare. Work comes in spurts so this just might be what your looking for. Go for it!!

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Specializes in Community Health Nurse.
Originally posted by melissa24

....................What I really would like is to work in home health doing follow-up mom-baby or NICU discharged visits. Ideally it would be no more than 12 hours per week, per diem or per visit, so that I can keep my main focus on homeschooling.

Questions:

Am I dreaming or does a job like this really exist?

How should I best go about finding out what is out there? By calling the agencies and asking to speak with the nurse recruiter? I am afraid if I just drop off a resume it will go unnoticed.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your help! :)

Hello Melissa...There indeed is such a job! My youngest daughter lives in Dover, Delaware, and they have such nurses working right there on the Air Force Base. If you like, I could give get her name and number so you could talk to her about how to go about landing a job such as she has. This nurse that visits my daughter's home on occasion is from PA. I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting her and sitting through one visit of hers with my kid. I thought to myself, I could do something like that! So, send me a "PM" if you wish to talk with that nurse. Hope this helps you somewhat. :kiss

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Specializes in Perinatal/neonatal.

You seem so nice! okay, have a happy day!

Happy Nursing ~Angie

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Thank you all for your responses. You are very encouraging!

To NRSKaren...Part of working in the NICU was floating to Mom/Baby and to Peds, as well as attending all the in-services that went along with those areas, so I do have Maternal/Child experience. I have also done a lot of patient teaching and assisting new moms with breastfeeding, so I feel that I could be an asset doing home visits. What you described sounds exactly what I want to do...hopefully I can find something like that here, since I do not live in a metropolitan area.

To Cheerfuldoer...Believe it or not, I am in Dover, Delaware, and my husband is stationed at the Air Force Base! Talk about serendipity! I am new to this message board, but I love it already! I will be "PMing" you soon to discuss possibilities.

Thanks again...

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I too have been home with my children. However, When I just had the 2, I ran a Healthy Baby program through our local Health Dept. I had prior NICU experience, but wanted something a bit more low-key and flexible. This was it. I made my own schedule and compiled my own visit list. I contacted Mom's post-delivery and made home visits for general development information, weights & measurements and LOTS of breast-feeding help. It was great. Of course, it runs on a state grant, and so may not be up and running in your area. Good luck finding something. :nurse:

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