akward situations in the home

Specialties Private Duty

Published

I. Have done 2 cases this week that have situations I never seen Before. I work 11pm to 7 am. Yhe cases are chikldr

Children 4 years old with gbutton. Mom sleeps with the child in a full size bed. I feel kinda awkward becase I sit in a chair about 5 feet from the bed,meaning I can see both of them sleeping. The case is alright but I don't know how I am going to get used to it. Also,mom is looking and scrutizing everything u do. She also turns off all the lights so the only light I have is a flashlight. Anybody ever run into any awkard situations in the home setting? Please share!

I never have, but I did know a case where the nurses would hop into bed next to the 20 yr old paraplegic gunshot victim. :eek::eek::eek: :uhoh21: :uhoh21:

Without knowing these people, I can't say for sure, but there are actually quite a few people who sleep in the same bed as their kids. Many times they eat a lot of trail mix and wear Birkenstock sandals. Or sometimes it is a matter of convenience, or the mother is over-anxious and afraid something will happen to her child if she can't hear him breathing at all times. Parents of these kids have often been to hell and back dealing with their disabled child and the constant health worries.

Yeah but it does interfere esp when I'm trying to do the assessment and mom is saying shhh. Now,on the nurse doing that all I can write is wow! I doaknow a nurse that kisses the 42 year old client on the forehead when her shift is over,(I'm the oncoming nurse)but I think that is sooo inappropiate,even thogh both are females.

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Yikes!!!:eek::eek::eek: So a mother sleeping with her child is not so unusual. When I start working nights, I am planning to do vital signs and assessments at the beginning of my shift. What if Mom gets mad at me for disturbing her sleep? Is Mom going to call the agency and say "Never send me that nurse again":crying2:

Private duty has so many challenges that most other fields of nurses don't understand. For example,many parents refuse meds for the children even thogh its on the plan of care and the mar. Al you can write is "mom refused for child" and hope the child doesn't get sicker. I was told that scenario does warrent a call to cps because they have a right to refuse meds for their child.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
Yeah but it does interfere esp when I'm trying to do the assessment and mom is saying shhh. Now,on the nurse doing that all I can write is wow! I doaknow a nurse that kisses the 42 year old client on the forehead when her shift is over,(I'm the oncoming nurse)but I think that is sooo inappropiate,even thogh both are females.

I've been doing this type of work for 5 1/2 years and all I can say is. . . I've seen and heard about the weirdest scenes you can imagine. My background was in acute care and outpatient clinics. I had noooo idea what "private duty" care was all about. Literally, they are all different. The families and the nurses. Here are a couple of true anecdotes with facts altered slightly. A nurse who lived in the homeless shelter to save money and carried all her belongings in a big gigantic plaid plastic zipper-bag. A nurse who came to work in cut-off sweatpants, flops and his hair every which-way. A nurse who mooned a patient. And a nurse who apparently fell asleep standing up from working too many hours and instead of pouring water into the Cascade humidifier chamber for the vent tubing, poured water directly into the patient's lungs via trach and vent tubing. It's like a Wild West Show out there sometimes!!

I really love the independence of home health, but to me, I try to stick to the same professional standards I would if I had 2 managers breathing down my neck the whole time I was there. It saves one hell of a lot of drama down the line. The forehead kissing thing is something I see all the time. I've come to think of that as not such a biggie. When I started I was shocked to learn night nurses actually slept on the job!! In my neck of the woods, almost all of them do.

If the mom is saying "sshhh" to you while you are trying to take care of her child. I think that is disrespectful and it would really tick me off. :mad: I probably wouldn't be able to keep myself from having some words with her. I once had a patient who was p-o ed at me for something, say, "You are not allowed to bring your laptop computer here anymore". Apparently no one told this person that they don't get to choose what tools I bring with me to do my job. Now he knows. We can be flexible, we can be accomodating in a lot of ways, but I will never be anybody's doormat. Hope the situation gets better for you, smartnurse1982 :)

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Specializes in Home Care, Peds, Public Health, DD Health.

I dont find anything odd about someone sleeping in the same bed as thier child but what seems odd to me is that they would have nursing care for their child....so maybe they dont have another room to sleep in? or maybe they do worry about their child but isnt that kind of why the nurse is there? so they can get a break and go get some rest? ok I guess I am being naive here? but I would definately feel odd about this, at the hospital they make the parents sleep in a cot next to the child at least so you can do what what you need to when you need to with the child. And if the parent doesnt like the light on, this would be another reason to be sleeping somewhere else? Not that you need to have a light shining on the patient but you certainly need to be able to assess your patient! I would think that the nursing company might have an issue with this as well? But obviously not....?

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

Yeah, I was wondering why he had nursing care at night with the mom there if he only had a g-tube, but I suppose there is more to the story. We're so lucky in private home care, huh? ;) our work environments are so "unique" :)

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Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.

The case I am currently on the mom and the grandma sleep in the bed with the child because if they HAD three beds and room for three beds I'm sure they would all be sleeping by themselves. I'm the day nurse so when I arrive its their informal wakeup call. Sometimes there are people sleeping on the floor when I arrive. My workspace is sitting on the bed with the child. You can still provide good quality care under restrictions like that but the sitting next to them while sleeping takes awhile to adjust. When I worked nights I wheeled the baby into the living room with me

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

Every place is sure different. I am lucky where I am I have enough room to move around and it's clean and in a pretty good neighborhood. The vulnerable kids need the care.

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to the op, i would have told the mom i'll be in the living room, b/c i snore when i sleep, ha.

When I started I was shocked to learn night nurses actually slept on the job!! In my neck of the woods, almost all of them do.

there ain't no other way to do hh, i take naps when i work during the day at times too.

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to the op, i would have told the mom i'll be in the living room, b/c i snore when i sleep, ha.

there ain't no other way to do hh, i take naps when i work during the day at times too.

um, sleeping on the job is completely unacceptable. You are being paid to be there for the 8-12 hours to monitor and take care of the patient. How can you properly monitor them if you are asleep? What if something were to happen while you were "napping?"

Again, completely unacceptable. You can sleep on your own time.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
um, sleeping on the job is completely unacceptable. You are being paid to be there for the 8-12 hours to monitor and take care of the patient. How can you properly monitor them if you are asleep? What if something were to happen while you were "napping?"

Again, completely unacceptable. You can sleep on your own time.

Nurses working in homes on the night shift almost always sleep. I thought it was weird at first, too. Seems to be the norm, actually. Ventilators tend to alarm quite loudly when something is going wrong.

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Specializes in LTC, Home Health.

I worked nights in home health for 3 years and never slept. I knew some of the aides that worked on other cases did but I figured it was because they had no license to lose. I couldn't see why anyone would feel they had the right to be paid to sleep while they work. What does that say about you and how you see yourself professionally? It seems lazy to me.

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Specializes in Home Care, Peds, Public Health, DD Health.

Except the time the alarm goes off and they dont hear it! I used to have nursing for my own child. One night, he was alarming and alarming......I went in and attended to him....finally went back to sleep - the nurse never woke up. last night that nurse ever worked in MY house! And I had no idea that it was common place for nurses to sleep on the job. Now it is MY job, believe me, I have NEVER slept not for a second, and I have yet to take an overnight job, I will work late into the night but not overnight because I have heard of nurses losing their jobs for that very thing....I thought it was policy:eek::nono::eek: or perhaps once again I am just being naive?? anangelsmommy

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