Help needed does this sound like a good deal!

Sounds like a good starting salary for my area (Northeast Indiana) but not sure about yours. I work for a hospital-based agency and we have a base range for all RN postions, although home care is slighty higher due to the case management aspect. Don't count on your day being over at 4:30. That may be your agency hours but not necessarlly your patient's. Call time can be very frustrating and you may be up all night with calls and expected to work the next day. All in all home care is very rewarding and if you like the one-on-one relationship you can establish with your patients go for it!

Hello! What type of home care agency is it? Here in NY we have 2 kinds, long term and short term and there is a BIG difference. I work long term with chronic pt's. I have basically the same pt's for years until they die or transfer to a facility. I do home visits and all aspects of case management for approx. 25 pts. With 10 yrs nursing exp. my pay is about $43 per hr. and that is for an area about 10 miles outside NYC.
I do know that many states don't have long term home health , only short term. That usually entails pts' coming home from the hospital and doing wound care, IV abx, lab draws, etc... The paperwork in home care is a pain, you must have good organizational skills and be very good with time management.
having said that, I love the freedom and flexibility this job allows. I LOVE no weekends, no holidays, no nights. I love making more money thatn slaving away in the hospital. I love having that one on one relationship with my patients. This job believe it or not will sharpen your clinical skills. You have no monitors or machines to rely on, only your eyes, ears and gut instincts.
I don't have children yet but all of my coworkers do and this job really allows them the freedom of being able to do things for their kids that they couldn't have done doing shift work at the hospital...
Good luck with whatever you choose!!!


Beez

Hi Lovely. I wish you much success in home health. I know it will be difficult at first if you're used to the structure that a hospital gives. It's not at all like that in home health. As a case manager in home health you have to be creative, extremely disciplined, and unafraid. As the previous poster indicated, you have to rely only on your own senses in the HH world.

A couple of things I would caution you about in HH. Look at what areas and how much territory they are asking you to cover. You do not want to be scattered all over a large territory because it will be difficult to get home at a decent hour. When you're on call and need to go out at night, make sure someone is with you or at least can get to you quickly. Again, I don't know what territory you will have but some areas are not desirable to be in even after noon time. Try to stay in good stead with your aides if possible, they can be a handy ally when you need them. Watch out for wishy washy management. You may have already read through some of the threads where HH nurses are having it rough. Finally, I think it's important to stay on top of regulatory issues in HH because it seems to be going through a lot of change. Boomers like me are going to have an even greater impact on HH then consumers in the past.

I think that if you are people-oriented, have compassion for people in difficult circumstances and enjoy teaching, instructing, educating and so on, you will do well in HH. After working in HH, I can never see myself going back to the hospital.