Visiting Nurse Service of New York

nyforlove---
Though I have never worked for VNS , my sister in law did for the last 4 years with the peds population and has recently left, not because she didnt like it but due to a move. Back to your post, it depends on what area you are assigned to. Her area had a mix of both nice neighborhoods as well as projects. And though she always used an escort when she felt the area was unsafe, the only time she felt she was directly in harms way was in a well to do home in an affluential home where a teen pulled a knife on his mother and sister during a visit.

I'm sure this question depends on what area of homehealth you're dealing with, but I'm wondering if you get to practice a lot of skills doing homehealth, i.e. IV insertion, PICC care, ostomy care, etc.? Thanks!

bigboy - see the link i posted for sammi earlier in the thread - the internship program takes BSN and ADN new grads up to those w/ a year of hospital experience (as far as i know).

thedit- i can only speak for vns in manhattan - there was a separate IV infusion team/program which only did infusions, but on the regular actue/longterm care teams there were no infusion responsibilities that i know of. i had one patient with a picc line in 4 years. occasionally got patients with a peg tube, ostomy, trach, bipap machine, LVAD, etc., and had a fair number of sq/im injections. a lot of times the patient or family were responsible for doing the treatments or site care independently. in my own practice the technical skills i usedthe most were head to toe physical assessment (obviously) and wound care - all different types/sites, wound vac, etc. in the home, i spent a lot of time dealing with functional/psychosocial/environmental/care management issues both in terms of assessment and interventions as opposed to tasks/technical skills.

That is useful information for me and many others I'm sure. Thank you!

ssssfdsafass

Ohhh this is a great info, great post, thank YOU!

I am debating what to do with my nursing "career" , I graduated in My 2008, right now I am employed as a s staff nurse at acute psychiatric unit in one of the largest hospital centers in NY, and having a difficult time with style of care, lack of compassion, bad hours (3-11pm 8h shifts) and long commute to work. This is my first job as a nurse, everyone when I mention that this job isn't good for me tells me about city benefits, how great and how wonderful is to work for the city. I like psych nursing but at the same time I am missing on med surg skills,
work in place where team work is just an empty phrase. I went to nursing school to be a midwife in the future, help people, be a positive - a helpful hand for person in need, to bring relief from pain, to help. I like to get close to my patients, to get to know them - current job doesn't give me room to do that. But I've never done home care and don't know if this is a good direction to turn to.
Any words of advice will be great.

Homecare is a different animal all together. I would not recommend it for someone new. Not only do you have to be comfortable with your skills but you are working independently for the most part.
Also you couldnt pay me enough to do it in or around NYC. There are risks involved that would not be an issue in other parts of the country.
Good Luck.
I have been a nurse many years(over 20) various settings and psychiatry as well. I see what you mean by lack of compassion etc...
It is very unfortunate that you see these type of Nurses "hiding out" on units like these.
Hang in there and Good Luck!

Noticed this great thread going, and wanted to ask how it usually works - I assume covering Manhattan by foot/subway/bus. Do you just stop at a foodery to take a break/eat lunch/do notes, phonecalls? I currently work in the suburbs, and really use my car as an "office". Also, how effective is the union in dictating working conditions for RNs at VNS? - Do they set max # of visits per day, etc? Thanks, and good luck everyone who is considering entering this interesting area of nursing!

I am considering vnsny, what is the difference between acute vs long term care? Do those areas have different types of training?

Acute care is basically short term care- you are seeing a patient for a few visits up to a couple of months to either monitor their stability, provide wound care or treatments, and/or provide teaching of medications and disease maintenance. Long term care is managing a patient over years, providing ongoing monitoring and management of their healthcare needs.

espikey