Considering home care after 14 yrs in office

[BirkieGirl]

Hi all, I have a few questions about home care nursing, and hope that I can get some good help. I am an RN of 17 years, and been in an outpatient office setting for the past 14. I am in a specialized industry so not GENERAL office setting.

I am also in my NP training and loving the whole school experience. However, I work 5-8 hr shifts right now and it is really getting very hard. I am up very late at night, out of bed very early, etc. My husband and kids are incredibly supportive.

I have been exploring other work option for a while. Although I like my current position, there is no flexibility and I was told there will not be any options for reducing my work hours for schooling. I currently work 40 hrs but would love to work 30-32. So I am looking at home care. There is an agency that I am very familiar with offering some part time options. I also need to have some benefits so occasional is out.

Is your position at all flexible? How are your benefits? Is home care something that I could adapt to (obviously with some training) after many years in office? How does the pay work- do you get mileage? Is home care generally 8-5? 12 hr shifts?

Thanks for any help and advice, I appreciate it!

[caliotter3]

You can work out different situations as far as scheduling, depending upon your agreement with the agency, upon hire. First you need to decide whether you are going to be doing traditional intermittent visit work or if you would prefer extended care, or shift, work. If you are going to be salary there will be a different expectation for workload and hours in the office and on the road, than if you decide to remain per diem. You can choose how many visits or shifts that you want each week. If you only want to do one visit each day, then that is what you accept and schedule for. If you want to do shifts and be at home each day by 2:30 so you can meet the kids, that is possible too. Benefits normally come with a minimum number of required hours per week, usually a minimum of 30 hours; easily met with four scheduled eight hour shifts. You should ask if it is the type of setup where you can pay into the insurance, for any week where you fall short of the minimum because your patient went to the hospital or something else prevented you from working your full schedule. These are all options that you can discuss further with the recruiting person or the Director of the agency when you are hired. Good luck.

[BirkieGirl]

AWESOME!!! thanks so much for the insight. sounds very much like what I am looking for!

[caliotter3]

Everybody I have ever talked to did not like the insurance. By any chance can you get insurance under your husband and forego with your agency?

The degree of flexibility (where I mentioned being home at 2:30 to meet the kiddos) is something you work out with a client who has that degree of flexibility too. Maybe you start day shift at five or six, instead of the traditional seven or eight. Or you do a seven hour shift, instead of eight. Most clients will be ok with reduced hours if it means getting a nurse at all. Others can not accommodate you. You speak with the agency staffing coordinator first, then make arrangements with the client. All agree, and you are ok. The agencies that have lots of business, (more than they have nurses to cover all the way) are more amenable to odd shift hours.

And visits, you schedule the way you want from the get go. As long as you get them done.

[Libby1987]

I wouldn't recommend trying to start in intermittent visits if you're looking for a lighter schedule while in school. It's A LOT to learn and you either make little money if you only see a couple of patients though it will take you more than 1/2 day while you're new, or you will be working some long days trying to complete your calls and charting. I think it's something you have to devote all of your time and energy to when just starting out and having no relevant experience.

Shift/private duty nursing would be a doable option, you're not bringing the charting home with you and it's a set shift.

[caliotter3]

Agree with Libby on the visits, at least in the beginning. There is a learning curve there that you probably would not want to deal with in the beginning. But be careful, because as an RN, the agency might steer you away from shift work because most agencies pay at the LPN level. Most extended care cases are rated at the LPN level and agencies pay accordingly. A good agency will pay an RN more than an LPN on the same case but many do not.