New to PDN

Specialties Private Duty

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I've been an RN for 23 years (gawd), remote HH experience as a new grad and then psychiatry for many years. The last six I've done medical oncology in a hospital, my first hospital job. Surprised I made it that long . . . can't knock the experience I got though.

I am no starry eyed savior nurse going into PDN. At this point, PDN is just another kind of nursing job that I hope to do in one way or another until I retire. What I look forward to in private duty is almost the same as what I dread :D about going into it, which sounds about right.

The clientele are mostly peds, which I have no experience in except in nursing school. I have adult children and little grandkids. Over the years I followed all these blogs by parents about bringing their preemies or very sick babies home, just very intrigued and concerned but in an armchair kind of way. I never considered doing peds nursing, but now that private duty is on the horizon I am really getting excited about it.

Supposedly we have training opportunities through the company. Ha, I'll believe it when I see it. Well, it's a start. The only thing I haven't done at all is manage a vent dependent patient. As for trach, GT, JGT, NG, central lines and acute med/surg and palliative care stuff, I got that (with adults). Doing it with kids isn't just doing it with smaller bits and smaller patients.

So as experienced PDNs, please give me your opinions and/or experience to point me toward good educational materials, tutorials AND whatever hands-on you would recommend or do yourself if you had to do it over.

I may eat my words but I trust my personal boundaries and de-escalation skillz :D, what not to do, where not to go in terms of relationships with patients and family. Sure I'll make mistakes and learn the ropes like the next person, but this is not what I am most concerned about. I can almost taste the words LOL.

Thanks in advance!! And yes I have pet geese :)

When I did HH, we kept a tote full of 'general supplies' like tape, kerlix, 4x4s, a just-in-case foley kit, BG monitor among other things. I doubt the company I plan to work for provides Bandaids, and the patients will have their supplies delivered by their medical company. Did anyone ever purchase a few gloves, syringes, kerlix, just to have in case? I can do the 'MacGuyver' thing with whatever is available . . . I'm just thinking about the day I'll really, really need a fresh toomey syringe and the family will be out!

I see people talk about bringing their ipads/laptops/Kindles. What a relief! I'll need the laptop to look stuff up for a while, it will be very useful. There's that fine line between appropriate use of 'personal entertainment' and being seen to use it inappropriately (whether one is or not, I know how some people can be). Any experiences or advice you wished you'd had from the git-go?

Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.
I see people talk about bringing their ipads/laptops/Kindles. What a relief! I'll need the laptop to look stuff up for a while, it will be very useful. There's that fine line between appropriate use of 'personal entertainment' and being seen to use it inappropriately (whether one is or not, I know how some people can be). Any experiences or advice you wished you'd had from the git-go?

Keep in mind that not every family will have Wi-Fi or be willing to share it with you if they do, so your laptop may not be helpful for research purposes unless you have the ability to create your own hotspot via your cell phone.

As for using a tablet / phone / Kindle / laptop, I haven't had any problem with it -- I only use them during downtime, which is plentiful on overnights. If there are ANY tasks to be done, I'm not on my phone or Kindle -- I'm suctioning or putting away supplies or giving a bedbath, etc.

But as long as everything is done and there are no alarms going off, my time is my own as long as I'm willing to drop everything the second an alarm goes off or it's time to cath or whatever.

That is all good common sense stuff. Interesting that I may not be welcome to use a family's wifi. It's their house, so that's that. Just not typical . . . but then I read a thread here about that, you were participating. I had satellite for a while and download audiobooks, so I got 'spanked' a couple of times for over use. It would be something on the memorized mental checklist for sure!

Specializes in geriatrics, hospice, private duty.

The last two companies I worked for, it was against company policy to use laptops, tablets, etc. so I can't really offer much advice. Oddly enough, they didn't care if you brought books to read or studied for school as long as the family didn't mind. It is something I will be asking my new (potential) company about if I am offered a job there (though I'll probably just stick to books).

I agree, there is A LOT of down time overnight because everyone in the house is usually sleeping and meds/tx are usually done HS or once they wake up in the AM (though you can have a few overnight meds, breathing tx, or incontinence checks). Every house I worked at had a TV with satellite or cable and they didn't care if you watched it as long as you took care of the patient when needed. I didn't own a TV at the time so it was probably the most TV I ever watched in my life!

Sometimes the downtime was a real draw back and my sis absolutely can't stand private duty because of it, but after working at a hectic ltc facility where I am the only nurse in the building, it is sounding really good again! It is especially good for nurses who are getting to where they can't physically do facility nursing, though as one member cautioned, you will be doing transfers, lifting, incontinence checks etc which can get physically demanding. Still beats doing all the above on 10-50 patients a shift though!

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