DFW rn with questions :)

Specialties Home Health

Published

Hello!

I am an RN in the DFW area. I have little over a years experience as an RN working in postpartum and a year experience working in pediatrics as an LVN.

I have 3 children, 2 that are school age and a toddler. My husband has a demanding job in the Navy so I am looking for some flexibility.

I am curious about nurses who work per diem for home health agencies. Ideally, I would like to work 2-3 days a week and only the hours that my kids are in school and just have to use part time daycare for my toddler. Is this possible with home health? I would just like to supplement my husbands income and do not need benefits. Any other moms out there doing something like this?

Also, What kind of visits do you have? What skills are important to have? How is the training in home health ?

Thank you for your time :)

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I work per diem and have been able to mostly fit patient visits into school hours. In my agency, I'm not required to do a minimum number of visits, so if I don't want to work one day, I don't schedule anyone for that day and can always say no thanks to a start of care for new patient. The only problem you'd run into is if you get someone that needs daily visits, but that's usually only for a short period of time. Recently I had a patient that needed daily IV meds for over a month and I did miss a few days but was able to find a coworker to do those visits, or my clinical manager would have found someone for me if needed.

For skills, good assessment skills are the most important thing. You need to be able to recognize problems early in order to keep your patients out of the hospital (doesn't always work when dealing with an elderly population because so much can happen), and be proactive in calling the physician to get orders for wound care, a UA/C&S if you suspect a uti, or you're picking up on any med problems.

Basic nursing skills like catheters, wound care, post-op drains, IVs (usually PICCs, some ports too), using glucometers and INR home machines and being able to teach those skills to the patient or caregiver, and more.

I've really enjoyed home health and think it's a good fit for family life. Sometimes there is a lot of paperwork to finish at night if you do many OASIS's, but that's really the only drawback I've found.

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With your need for flexibility and experience in peds you may want to consider PSA home care...I don't know about your area but where I live they always need nurses due to growth of home health w/ped patients and have a great reputation.

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I am a Home Health RN field case manager, very flexible, I can do charting at home , my computer syncs over wifi, so I can send all my documentation, I see patients daily, but you could do part time somewhere, I manage to pick my daughter up from school most of the time, I enjoy it for the most part

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Thank you all for your input! I appreciate it ;)

What do you do as a field case manager?

Also, what is PSA nursing?

Sorry, I am still trying to get familiar with all of the home health terms.

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