New grad & home health?!

Specialties Home Health

Published

I am a new RN- I have 4 months experience on a peds/medsurg/ortho unit. I am looking for a second job, prn, for some extra income. I was thinking about nursing home since I do not have tons of experience. One of my co-workers suggested home health.

My question is.... is home health a good place for a new grad? I just do not want to get myself into a situation that I cannot handle with no help at hand.

Opinions??

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Specializes in Home Health, MS, Oncology, Case Manageme.

This topic has been talked about a lot. Check the searches.:yes:

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In my opinion, yes and no. I have worked end of life home health (not hospice but close) for 2 years. I love it. It is a good field to see different diseases and disease processes. It was nerve wracking at first though. There is a lot of independence involved. You have a case manager, but in most cases only visits once a week to ensure proper charting, quality of care, and such. The company I work for wouldn't hire me right out of nursing school because I didn't have experience. If you can find a company that does, I'd say go for it! There is a lot to learn in this field. Good luck!

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I'm a fairly new gad LPN, and started in home health right out of school. There is orientation to get you comfortable with the case. So far I have oriented to several, and nothing that I can't Handle. One case I needed more time, they gave me four hrs to see if I liked it, but I need at least 12 more. The patient had a lot going on - trach, vent, cath....I have been doing Pediatrcs, it's nice, love children. I am happy with it so far. Flexible hours too. :yes:

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i say yes. i am a new grad since nov 2012. i just started full time field nurse and i am getting extensive training and shadowing another rn in the field. i say go for it. i was scared at 1st and even sought advice on the site and a lot of them said do it. its good experience and great for extra income. Good luck. i am getting training on oasis also.

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Specializes in ICU, previously Dialysis.

NurseJoy what you do is private duty, not the same as home health visits. But does fall under the "home health world"

To the OP, I was a fairly new RN when I went into home health and as previous poster said yes and no. If you're a quick learner with good assessment skills, you'll be fine.

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Specializes in peds palliative care and hospice.

I would say maybe. I started doing private duty after 6 months (not exactly the same) but my primary job was with VERY VERY fragile kiddos in a nursing home. If you have a background in complex peds, or even if you have confidance and are willing to learn, I would recommend that over HH visits. I have been a nurse for 4.5 years and I still run into things I don't know how to handle on my own, I can't imagine myself in HH as a new grad, but as one of the previous posters said, if you have the skills, it could work.

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