Left the hospital to pursue Home Health Care...any tips/advice on how to be awesome?

[JJsMama79]

Hello my fellow nurses,

I have been a nurse now for almost 10 years. In that time, I've been working mostly med-surg (about 7 1/2 yrs) and have had experience in pediatrics, adolescent psych, labor and delivery and nursing home nursing. I have decided I am tired of working in a hospital...the 12+ hour shifts and taking care of 8-9 pts at a time is starting to wear on me. I also am charge nurse on my floor about once a week and we are still required to carry a full pt load while at the same time being "in charge." I cry on my way to work almost every night (I work 7p-7a) and about 2 times while I'm there...so I've decided I was burnt out and got an interview with my local hospital in the home health care department. Long story short, I got offered the job, and start in about 3 weeks.

I am SO excited to be starting in a field that's different from floor nursing. Everyone I've spoken with said they love home health...the only regret they have is not getting in the field sooner. Any tips from all you lovely nurses who have been in home health awhile? I don't need tips on assessment skills, or really any technical skills, as I've been a nurse for awhile. Tips on how to stay organized, setting up appointments, paperwork, calling doctors...basically whatever is different than floor nursing would be greatly appreciated! Also, what is so awesome about home health? How did you pick this field? What do you love about it? What do you dislike about it? I am very eager to know a typical day (and not so typical day.) I shadowed a home health nurse for a day before I accepted the job offer, but those were somewhat "easy" visits....each lasted about 15 minutes. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

JJsMama1979

[Isabelle49]

First I would like to address the "easy" visits that lasted about 15 minutes. Those are visits I call hit and run. If a nurse is doing her job she will be lucky to get out in 30 minutes. Sorry, but my opinion is any nurse seeing a patient for 15 minutes is not doing anything for the patient in home health. Reminds me of when I picked up patients from a nurse who left to go to another agency. Her patients were surprised that I even touched them, or listened to their breath sound or heart, much less felt for pulses. That was a time when I figured I was doing the job the wrong way and that was why it was taking me so long, but, I decided I liked the way I did my job. I don't know of anything in home health that makes it awesome, except when I am with a patient I am never interrupted by management or any others.

[rnmelody]

What I love about HHC is knowing how patients are when they go home and care for themselves. I work in rehab IP and do HHC on my days off. I get more info on what are the teaching that these pt needs when they get discharged to home. I love the scenic drives when I have to travel in between patients. The compensation is good too. You can your visit with your patients. It t usually takes me more than 30-45 minutes to do regular visits. You are required to do health teachings, as indicated on the RN visit flowsheet. Dont wait to do your notes til you get home, do it while you are visiting. OASIS intake is really a pain when you are asking questions and your pt veers off to a different topic and all you wanted to do is get done. Prioritizing is the key. Good luck.