Can't decide whether to leave current job for HH job.

I know the grass is not always greener. But unfortunately the only way to know is to do it. Also, did you say they give you a andriod, car and gas card? WOW. Good luck in your decision. Everyone needs to be happy!!

I am having such a hard time making a decision. Is there anyone out there that can help? I have worked for my current company for over 8 years. Started as telephonic for about 3 years then community based Disease Management until a year ago. A year ago contract changed and I took a supervisors position instead of being back on the phones 100%. I now remote supervise about 25 employees. I get paid very good money but the stress of the job and not leaving my office is really getting to me! I really need to get out of this office!

I have been offered a HH position making a base pay of about $20,000 a year less. I believe I can manage the cut in pay by stopping my 401K contributions for a while. The agency said I would be able to make more since I would be taking weekend call once a month and would be paid for any visits over the required 27 weekly points. A new admit counts as 2.5 points.

One minute I am certain that I need to take the job but then I read posts about how awful HH is and it certainly makes me concerned.

The HH agency provides an andrioid tablet to do your charting and a car and gas card. This is a very large agency and I believe a good one.

Not only is it hard to leave a place after working here for so long but hard to move to something new.

Any words of advice or wisdom would be greatly appreciated!

I also say take a vacation, but also could you step down back to community based disease management, instead of supervising? Whatever you decide hope you're happy.

I have worked for a Homehealth agency for 13 years in many different roles. I love HH nursing, but like all jobs it has its downfalls. If you are organized, disciplined and can make decisions on the go, knowing that you cant always reach the doctor you will most likely love HH care. Forewarning it can be feast or famine for extra visits - so dont bank on the extra visits regularly, but if you put aside during feast you should do ok. Also, that 1 w/e on call, get some good clarification of what that involves and the pay. Wishing you much success

I have been in Home Health in some capacity since 1992. Started as a field nurse, then on to Administration. I left the ICU for home health d/t family illness. My experience is either you love it, or you hate it. Just like anything else, there are good days and bad days. You HAVE to be flexible, just when you think your day is planned out.....it changes. The car and a gas card and the pos documentation (the android) will help with many of the frustrations that home health nurses feel. I've been on both sides. I find it very rewarding, and sometimes I want to pull my hair out!! Once you learn the paperwork, the process, what who, when and which situations are reimbursed and by whom, (it's a lot to learn) and get yourself organized, you will know. Personally, It is the only way I roll!!

I want to say to you, "The job you have now sounds great, albeit with more responsibily than you want. I would keep it. Here's why. First, a word of warning, that laptop they are "giving" you is not yours to keep, and I wouldn't use it for personal use. You will be using an OASIS program probably, which is a wonderfully exasperating tool for torturing home care nurses. You MUST enter all the information exactly, or else the whole visit will not transmit to the server and register that the visit was done, and THAT is how you will be paid. Also, the IT people at the home care agency will be able to see every key stroke, what time you entered the information etc. This is important because your agency will tell you you are supposed to be entering the entire visit/assessment in the laptop in the patients home while you are doing it. It does not make for a good patient nurse interaction most of the time, let alone all the back and forth to enter the information and complete a physical assessment. I always had to finish them at home, on my own time of course.

If you are very computer savvy, you might like it. But if you like your current job, I would make some changes so you could stay there. Home health used to be a good change from the fast pace of hospitals and nursing homes, but no longer. The OASIS program (a McKisson product) must not have had any "real working" nurse input during development, because it is a nightmare that just gets more complicated with age. I first learned it in 2009, and there have been many "updates" since. Also, you will need that gas card with the price of fuel, and that is how they get out of paying you mileage, the going rate is about .45/mile. If you have a gas-miser, you could of actually made a little on mileage, which, believe me, you will deserve. But, the gas card fixs that, but not the wear and tear on your car (which is why the .45/mile is fair, think of the cost of a set of tires!). Well, I could go on with more, but I think, and hope, you will reconsider. Good Luck.

I agree w/the other posters - HH is one of those "love it or hate it" - if you have never worked HH before can you request to ride along for a day w/a nurse to get a feel for things? I've worked HH in the past...you will go to some really nice places and some really not nice places, some patients and their families will be nice, others not, just like any other nursing job, you will do a lot of driving, changing of schedule so you have to be willing to be flexible. You will drive hundreds of miles most likely/week. You are given gas but the wear/tear on your car is on you. Though the hours maybe 8-5, a FT HH RN usually case manages so there is more than just visits to complete - after hour charting is not uncommon, taking call for a large agency increases the likelihood of getting called after hours or during the night, you also have to carry your supplies/stock and computer w/you everywhere so it stays in the car....there are the unplanned visits, the add ons, the lab draws which means you go to the house and to the lab and admission - even if there are admission nurses there is still the possibility you would be assigned one and they take a long time...yes, you are out of an office but as those on here who have worked or currently work HH can tell you - it is not the piece of cake many seem to think it is...it has changed GREATLY since the 1990's...before you make the leap I again suggest riding along for a day....I personally would not return to HH again unless it was part time or weekends only and then I would have to give it a lot of consideration.

With your background, it may not be long before you take a management position inside the HH company which allows for field supervision, or to become a trainer -also has some field supervision. You can mix it up. But in HH there is paperwork galore at night....the day may be easier but the nights of computer documentation may take an additional 2-3 hours easily (emails, scheduling, phonecalls, md orders meds to update transfer forms etc)