I live in Orange,CA. Got my license on May, been on the job hunt for 3 months with no glimpse of luck! Finally got hired in HH. Which is weird because I wasn't even interviewed. I was called calling one day and I bump into this small agency. Lady said come-over we need per diem bring you credentials. So I went in and handed over resume and other credentials. They gave me papers works to sign right away, and with some assessment exam.. TO TAKE HOME. After a day or two I went back to the office to hand all the paper works back. The "care coordinator" said to wait for the call. The following 24 hrs I got call for orientation. Everything happened too fast. I was a bit overwhelmed yet happy excited that I finally got a job. So,.. about 3-4 hrs of orientation. The DON just kind of explained the charting and a little bit of stuff. (imagine how much of stuff you can cover in 3-4hrs orienting 3 new grads) They required as to follow a nurse before taking patients. So the next day I followed a nurse who was leaving. She seen 2 patients both for blood draw. I did the 2nd draw for her. Then after that.. the next day, I was by myself.
So I am perdiem and I see about 2-3 pts/day but not everyday. $20/visit NO MILEAGE. sometimes I have 3 pts for the whole week and thats about it. I drive up to 20miles for one pt. Sitting in traffic in a hot summer weather.. you have to use AC! I don't want to smell sweat when I'm taking pts VS.
There is A LOT of driving, and in the most part, its the one that pulling me down. I love the aspect of HH because I love patient teaching above all. But I am starting to loose hope about this. My first paycheck was $20 for 3 days of driving. I have daycare. I wanted to cry looking at my paycheck. I don't think it even close to reimbursing myself for the gas and mileage that I spent seeing those patients.
I've been in HH for exactly one month now. Im really hoping I could last a month more. My DON mentioned we will get $5 raise after 3 months which will make it $25/visit.
Sorry for the long post. I just had to vent somehow.
So my questions.. would any of you take $20/visit NO MILEAGE reimbursement? If you a new grad? I know that the economy is not at its best but I really feel like Im spending way too much time on this and I don't even break even with all the work I have to do. Not to mention the documentation part which is making stay up late at night trying to figure out what to write on my nurses note because I want to make sure I'm safe and I covered every detail.
From the bottom of my heart.. thank you for reading my post.
And I really appreciate some feedback.. and maybe some encouragement..
(sorry for any typo, I dont have time to proofread such long post)
Im not an original English speaker BTW