New Grad - Is HH nursing difficult to get out of?

[Jazzyjazz]

Hello AN,

I graduated in May and passed my boards at the end of June. I have been applying online to multiple job postings with no progress. This past Sunday, in passing, I mentioned to a few of BFs friends that I was looking for a job. Turns out, someone in the group, that I met that day worked for a HH agency.

I had my resume/cover letter ready by Tuesday, walked in on Wednesday and practically got the job offered on the spot. Turns out that Spanish speaking HH nurses are in high demand in the Boston area.

Now this is my dilemma. Throughout nursing school, I had a feeling that HH was the way I wanted to go. Until I had my rotation at the CHildren's Hospital and I absolutely loved it, I also worked at an elementary school which I enjoyed very much. Then I new I wanted to work with kids. I don't care if it's in a bedside or community setting.

My question is, How hard would it be to get out of HH/Community nursing if I wanted to broaden my horizons?

To be honest, I believe that I will enjoy the HH very much. I always wanted to work with my patient within the community, but I don't want that to be my only option or loose my bedside skills which I really haven't learned since this would be my first job.

[taratyfly]

It sometimes can be difficult to move to other areas of nursing without experience. and the question always comes up how do you get the experience???? sometimes you can get lucky and you are given a chance or know someone to give you a good reference

[carrie13]

I've worked for the past 8 years part-time in an acute setting (telemetry/PCU) and the past 3 years part-time in homecare. Like others have mentioned there are skills that you perfect in homecare which you do not get as much exposure to in the hospital setting. In homecare I have had patients with trach, ostomy, feeding tube, etc. In the hospital setting those patients (at least on my floor) are not very common. Also at my hospital we have Respiratory therapists, IV nurses, wound nurses, etc. In the hospital I have never given a nebulizer treatment, started a peripheral IV or developed a wound care plan. All of those things I have done in the home setting...

As a fellow Boston-area nurse I would say take whatever job is offered to you because this area has a very tight job market for new grads. Any experience is better than no experience. If this agency does not have Pedi homecare - get some experience through them and in a year transition to another agency that allows you to work with pediatric clients.

[wripley1968]

Most home health agencies nurse candidates to have at least 2 years of nursing experience. New graduates have raw skills and have not developed appropriate nursing judgement that you get from experience and also need to be in a supervised environment. Many hospitals are looking for inpatient experienced nurses. I would advise you to find a job in a hospital and try to initially get a strong clinical background. I am basing this comment on over 20 years of experience in home health management.

[Jazzyjazz]

Most home health agencies nurse candidates to have at least 2 years of nursing experience. New graduates have raw skills and have not developed appropriate nursing judgement that you get from experience and also need to be in a supervised environment. Many hospitals are looking for inpatient experienced nurses. I would advise you to find a job in a hospital and try to initially get a strong clinical background. I am basing this comment on over 20 years of experience in home health management.

I took the home health position. So far, I've enjoyed the flexibility and broad range of patient diagnosis. (Oasis not so much). I learning a great deal of information and can't imagine not being able to work at a hospital if need be.

[sugar12]

Hospitals are not lining up with jobs for us new grads. Yes it is ideal to start at a hospital but it's not reality. I was a new grad who took a home health position 6 months ago and you definitely will learn a lot. Even as a new grad your gut instinct will tell you something is wrong. Trust it and continue to read up on diagnoses etc. You will learn a lot and hospitals so far haven't disregarded my home health experience. I went on an interview and the nurse manager definitely loved the patient education part of it. It's a skill you definitely get good at since in the home setting you have more time to teach patients. Wish you all the best!

[anh06005, MSN, APRN, NP]

If that's your only option you may have no choice but to take it.

in my experience I am so THANKFUL I had 1.5 years experience in the hospital before I went to HH. In the home you don't have someone down the hall to bounce an idea off of or have come look at a wound or listen to some heart or lungs. It's YOU and YOUR skill set and experience. Also as far as med teaching I know SO much more after working HH than I did in the hospital (besides my cardiac drips of course).

I am much more confident in my skills now but still get nervous when I don't see a vein to get blood from....