Am I right for home health?

caliotter3 · Feb 13, 2011

If you have to, print your narratives. It takes more time, but they can be read, and you will pick up speed as time goes on. I once worked with a nurse whose handwriting was bad enough that he was told to print instead of use cursive writing. Same thing in general as far as time management. As time goes on, you will be doing less at home. Try to take ten to fifteen minutes in your car organizing and writing parts of your documentation, before you start out to your next client.

ImThatGuy, BSN, RN · Feb 17, 2011

lol. This applies to areas beyond nursing so I'll chime in.

Anecdote:

I print everything other than my five letter signature. If I had to write in cursive I'd have to stop and think about every letter since I haven't used that since I was 11.

Advice:

Get a little laptop perhaps (there are some tiny ones out there), put all the forms on it, and type as you go. Wouldn't that work? The form would also prompt you so as not to miss anything. Did I misunderstand the problem? Additionally, you could write this off as a business expense, AND you can get an air card from AT&T or Verizon or both and use them on your new business purposes laptop while being able to write off that expense annually as well. Then you could get on the internet anywhere from your car as long as cell service is available. Use your cell phone? Write it off as well. Don't believe me? See your CPA this tax season and ask. Heck, you could buy a wireless printer and wireless router for your home, pull up in your drive way, and print out your forms for the day before you ever get out of your car and go inside.

More anecdote:

Forms are "learnable." The state has a vehicle accident form that for the first few weeks you use it is a monster, but after you use it you know what you're going to enter before you see the blanks so assuming you can type quickly the form takes no time and is a true gift to the user. I can use it and never touch my mouse. Tab, tab, tab. Wanna go back? Shift + tab.

Nurseleigh27 · Feb 22, 2011

I appreciate your post, and can completely relate with you. I am pretty new to HH as well. I have been working for my company for 8 months now, and it seems like here lately I keep making stupid mistakes. My boss tells me she thinks I am a good nurse, and that she doesn't want me going anywhere, but that there are just a few areas that she thinks I could improve on. I have found that working in HH, having so much independence (while wonderful) can also begin to have a negative effect on nurses. It's easy to become tempted to rush through the visits, because when you finish seeing all of your pts, you're through for the day. I love having the ability to schedule my pts to my convenience during the day, and not having to spend everyday stuck in the same place, watching the clock, wishing like crazy it was time to go home. But I've had to remind myself that with independence, comes responsibility, and if I'm rushing through my visits, I'm more likely to miss something that I shouldn't have, or make a mistake that could have been avoided. Well, actually my boss was the first to remind me of this. And I have reminded myself this everyday since then. I sometimes wonder myself, if I'm even cut out to be a nurse. I've only had my license for 2 years. In that time, I've tried a number of different fields, ranging from a nursing home (def not for me), all the way to LTAC units. HH is the first field I've worked in, that I actually enjoy. Like you, I love my pts, and enjoy caring for them. Some of them, I continue to stop by occasionally, just to chat or catch up, even after they have been discharged. But these stupid mistakes I make, have been hounding me, and everytime I think ive moved on, and have made a mental note not to make the same mistake again, something else seems to come up that I missed. I feel like such a failure, and it has made me question myself as a nurse, and as a person.

twokidsmom,rn · Feb 22, 2011

Nurseleigh27

That is EXACTLY how I feel. I have not been sleeping well, up worrying if I should be a nurse. If I should to back to a hosp or LTC facility. I have been making paperwork mistakes have been getting calls from my manager to come fix them. I have been told from another seasoned HH nurse from my company you will mess up on paperwork but it will come. But I wonder when will that happen. I have been finding myself rushing thru visits especially when I have 7-9 in a day and they are far apart. But I am truly trying my best I know I need to improve but not sure how. I have recently been getting home around 5 then typing all my nursing note for the day. My handwriting is a very big issue so typing fixes that issue but not sure how to fix all the other ones.