Can you have a life AND do HH?

Specialties Home Health

Published

I am a previous hospital nurse who has been doing home health for about 2 months. So far it has been a nightmare! I am charting every night after I finish seeing patients and most of the weekend. We do computer charting which I am thankful for... but even so, it takes so much time! I am salary and it is a decent salary... unless you are working 12 hours Monday through Friday and all weekend. I have gotten faster since I started, but I just don't see how it is possible to see patients and get charting completed in a 40 hour week. As an RN I am primarily doing admissions, recerts, and ROCs all of which take some time at the patients home AND even more time charting. I am computer savvy and I type fast...so I don't know. They are always pushing you to stay caught up with your documentation and the only way I can do this is to document ALL THE TIME. Is this just the nature of home health?

I love the patients and I love the teaching aspect of the job. But I hate the endless hours. I also dislike the constantly changing schedule. I will think I have my day planned and then I will get a call that a someone has been added to my schedule.

Is this the way HH is...... or it is just me... or the agency? Any thoughts are appreciated.

I tried to "reply" to a comment but it comes out as a new comment...stupid

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Specializes in Pedi.
I tried to "reply" to a comment but it comes out as a new comment...stupid

If you reply, it replies to the thread. If you want to reply specifically to one comment, hit the quote button and we will know who you are replying to.

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This is the way it is..gotta say I'm tired of having my day planned, then office will call and change things, tired o trying to get ahold of clients, tired of fighting traffic, bad drivers and driving 100-150km each shift I work, tired of stinky, filthy houses, tired of barking dogs, tired of being a nurse..change is coming...

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Well, I am still here in home health, but I did change employers and went to a non-profit agency. There has been a huge learning curve from my prior experience in the hospital, but I am getting better at managing things. I do still feel it is invasive, and that the home/work life balance isn't the best. We went from a pay per visit model to an hourly scale "to encourage work/life balance." Yeah, not so much. The management (corporate people above our immediate supervisors who are awesome BTW) doesn't distinguish between a simple revisit and a SOC/ROC-both count as "1 unit"-they want us at 25-30 units per 40 hours and OT is discouraged. We are expected to do 5-6 revisits per 8 hr day or 2 SOCs or 1 SOC and 3 revisits. All documentation completed that same day.

It's a bit challenging to get everything done in a day. We are supposed to get a one hour lunch (phone on and available 800am-500pm) but since that seldom happens it's a 9 hr day minimum. More often than not, it's a 10 hour day without any paid OT. I do love the work, but am unsure how long I can keep up "production" :no:

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
Would love to know how you manage to complete all charting prior to coming home. Please share any success secrets you may have.

I sit in the patient home and open my laptop and complete the documentation as a portion of the visit. If I must leave the home before it is finished I travel to a nearby safe place where I can complete it before I move onto the next patient.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
I sit in the patient home and open my laptop and complete the documentation as a portion of the visit. If I must leave the home before it is finished I travel to a nearby safe place where I can complete it before I move onto the next patient.

Note, I don't actually move ONTO the patient...just on; to the patient's home. LOL

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Specializes in ICU, CM, Geriatrics, Management.
Note, I don't actually move ONTO the patient...

Come on, it's just us... you can be honest. ;>)

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i worked hh for 8 month and quit now. no valuable experience, my new job do not even need their references. patients loves and cry for leave which are only reason keep me there. charting is complicated, duplicated, time consuming and time wasting. not many experience nurses doing this and patient back hospital rate is high. i will never come back to it. but i finish my job easy, 6 pts can be all done in 3pm including charting because most of charting are similar. i try to get patient card for each patient with all dx and specific inform. when charting, pt card beside you. it saves time. but still, some days i work way after time and can not report because i only saw 6 pts that day.

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In my experience, NO. I have been doing it for three months, and I haven't had a day off since then...I may not see patients every single day, but on my weekends off (which barely exist as it is) I have to spend a majority of my time charting. There is so much labor and driving time that is required that is unpaid, thanks to the "Pay Per Visit" model that I just can't take this any longer. I cannot work 7 days straight every single week. Not to mention, my orientation was severely lacking-there is very poor managerial support...the list goes on and on. I admire people who love it, that's the only way you can survive it. Unfortunately, it just wasn't a good fit for me. I am working on my MSN, which is impossible to do while working HH. Then there's the on-call mess...I just love being woken up at 2am for a patient to tell me that no one came to change his dressing that day. Just my 2 cents...

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