Considering HH nursing

[evilolive, BSN, RN]

Hi everyone. I'm a 24 year old RN with approx. 1 year of LTC experience under my belt. I've seen a fair range of patients, from the little old ladies (do you call them LOLs? haha), to behavioral pts., pts. with frequently abnormal labs, some wounds, infections, and I am starting to gain a little more experience with Medicare charting as of late. I've done assessments up the wazoo!

I am desperately trying to get out of LTC, as I do not enjoy the management style I am having to put up with on a daily basis, poor pay (at least in comparison to my hospital nursing buddies), and crap I get on a regular basis from my ADON. Another allnurses member suggested home health to me, and it brought me back to senior year of nursing school when I went around with a home care agency out of the Springfield, MA area. I loved it, seeing a variety of pts that you get to know, being able to stop for a quick bite to eat, and most of all being out on the road and not stuck inside a building with basically no ventilation.

Med-Surg was my next option, but now that I think of HH, I think it would be a welcome change from taking care of 32 people by myself at night with two CNAs. Would I have a decent chance at getting a job with my experience level?

And lastly, do any of you work, or know of good HH agencies in the Merrimack Valley of MA? The closest thing I could find was out of Chelmsford, which is a little bit of a hike for me. I'm just starting to research this option, so if I'm being naive on where to look please excuse me!

Thanks so much, I'd appreciate any thoughts or comments

[paradiseboundRN]

I am not familiar with your area. But in my area (Metro Detroit), most agencies want nurses to have at least 1 year of acute care experience. That said, it wouldn't hurt to apply to some of the smaller agencies that may be a little less stringent with the rules, however they will give you a good orientation and supply you a mentor.