Did anyone start as a new grad in home care?

Emergent, RN · Dec 17, 2020

I did home care a little bit as a stopgap after my husband died. I had kids at home, two of which were one and three and only wanted to work one or two days a week.

Both of the cases I had were trach patients who needed a skilled nurse. So, I learned a specific skill which was trach care.

I had worked in a nursing home prior to that, and once my little ones got a little older I got an acute care job. During periods of a shortage, it's not hard to transition to acute care.

I'm not sure how it is starting out in home care. You don't really learn time management by having one patient at a time. Long-term care definitely teaches you that because you have so many patients. Long-term care gives you a broader range of skills, especially if you work in a facility that provides higher levels of care.

What I really disliked about Home Care was being in the family's home. There were a lot of obnoxious family dynamics that I got exposed. The companies definitely will not help you in dealing with crazy family members, their goal is to make money and appease the family whenever they can. They won't be helping set limits. It's also boring to just do the same thing with the same person over and over again. I don't know that it would be a very good job as your first one, since you won't learn too much. Also, there usually isn't enough to do.

amoLucia · Dec 17, 2020

As you read along on this thread, you'll see freq issues re setting limits between you, the nurse, and the family. Often the 2 don't match.

Families freq attempt to take advantage of nurses by requesting them to work outside/against their scope/standards of practice. And then some of the requests are jaw droppers - like being told to shovel snow off the driveway, or to mow the lawn. Oh yeah! There are posts here that can attest to those CRAZY requests, and a whole slew of other equally crazy ones!

You will have a care plan - that's your guide, along with your strong standards of professional behavior & ethics. Some families are plain old NUTS, but others are appreciative for your assistance & service. And the agencies can also vary - some will be very supportive of the staff; others just want their money for sending a warm body out to cover the case.

One thing re home care, the nurse needs a strong foundation for skills and knowledge. You will be by yourself; you need to be strong in your decision making. But many new HH nurses have flourished.

So if you connect with a good agency and good pts/families, you should do well. Just follow your gut and look out for those red flags that could pop up.

Good luck & welcome to AN.