CNA: Nursing Home to Home Health...a wise move?

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Hi all, I'm hoping to find some feedback here. I've been a CNA for three months. I work at a rehab/LTC facility. At first I actually didn't dislike anything about it except feeling like I was constantly racing against the clock of mealtimes and unable to give as much personal care to each resident as I would like. I've since gotten better at it, but lately it's starting to feel like that again because we are constantly understaffed. I'll get to work and have 10 residents in my set, which is fine, but then when I'm barely halfway done getting up the people who need to be up for breakfast, I get notified that someone didn't show up and now I have 15 residents in my set. The first time this happened, four of my residents were the type of fall risk where you have to drop everything and run to their assistance if they try to get up alone, which they do, and I also had someone on 15 minute checks that day. I have an opportunity to work for a highly recommended (by other CNAs I know) Home health care company. Anyone have pros and cons?

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I think this is a great question. :) Long term care can be a tough gig, for the reasons you mentioned above...being understaffed, working hard, and not having enough time to provide personalized care for each patient. Home health can provide you with great experiences, unique learning opportunities, and a better work environment. You might see some unusual health conditions, and have time to form close relationships with your patients. Both of these opportunities would look equally good on a resume. Ask more questions about the home health job - hours, expectations, what type of support you'll have. If it seems like a good deal to you, go for it!

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Specializes in EMS, LTC, Sub-acute Rehab.

I really don't consider there to be any pros to working LTC as a CNA if they're constantly under staffed, which most places typically are. Unless the corporation has some serious health care or PTO benefits, I'd ditch them in a minute.

Hospitals have CNA or PCT levels 1-3, so there's some upward progression. JCAHO also dictates mandatory staffing at hospitals so you won't have 15 pts. LTCs you can end up with 15-20 and no one cares. I encourage and help my CNAs find home health and private caregiver positions. The future of healthcare is home health.

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I really don't consider there to be any pros to working LTC as a CNA if they're constantly under staffed, which most places typically are. Unless the corporation has some serious health care or PTO benefits, I'd ditch them in a minute.

Hospitals have CNA or PCT levels 1-3, so there's some upward progression. JCAHO also dictates mandatory staffing at hospitals so you won't have 15 pts. LTCs you can end up with 15-20 and no one cares. I encourage and help my CNAs find home health and private caregiver positions. The future of healthcare is home health.

Yes, ideally I would be working in a hospital. I've been volunteering at an amazing hospital for a couple of years and one of the nurse managers told me she wanted me to work for her on the Cardiovascular Telemetry Unit and to please come see her as soon as I got my certification. Since I am starting nursing school in January, I decided to challenge the CNA exam rather than pay $1200 for a course I didn't have time to take (while in school full time and working in the hospitality industry at the time), since I would be getting that same training during my first semsester of the nursing program. I went straight to that nurse manager the day I passed my exam and she created a job posting for me, gave me the exact hours I wanted (2 12s on the weekends with full time benefits), introduced me to my new coworkers...then when we tried to get me in the system found that I wasn't eligible to work for the hospital because I challenged the exam. It requires either one year CNA experience, proof of a full CNA training program, or successful completion of nursing fundamentals. She just touched base with me last week to let me know she's thinking of me and that I have a job waiting for me after level 1, but I need something other than this horrific LTC just until May 2020.

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I really don't consider there to be any pros to working LTC as a CNA if they're constantly under staffed, which most places typically are. Unless the corporation has some serious health care or PTO benefits, I'd ditch them in a minute]

Also, I have zero benefits because I can only work 24 hours with my school schedule. But I might be able to do more than that with home health because I could squeeze in a couple of shorter visits on school days where I definitely would not have been able to work an 8-hr LTC shift

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Specializes in hospice, LTC, public health, occupational health.
JCAHO also dictates mandatory staffing at hospitals so you won't have 15 pts. LTCs you can end up with 15-20 and no one cares.

How new is this? Because in 2012 I worked a hospital telemetry unit as a CNA, and regularly had 13 patients assigned to me, 1/4 to 1/3 of them on some type of precaution. I'll never forget the night I came in and was told I was the ONLY CNA on the unit, for 17 or 18.

Do you have a link to these mandatory staffing ratios from JCAHO?

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Specializes in Long term care.

Home care pros:

One on one

Usually easy care. Less physically demanding but, not always.

If you are in school, sometimes there is study time.

Flexible schedule

You often spend more time cleaning house than changing briefs.

Cons of home care:

No guarantee of hours

Some homes can be scarey to be in

You are in someone's home & it can be a. Real challenge sometimes to do things as they expect in regards to cleaning...

You spend most of the time cleaning house and not using your skills as a CNA.

You can end up putting alot of miles on your cad & not necessarily get reimbursed.

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