I started home health nursing last November. Prior to that I had 10 years hospital-based med / surg experience. There are many things that I truly enjoy about home care, but I am getting really discouraged at this point. Mounds of paperwork, less free time...seems like all I do is work, work, work. I am about to attend class to learn the laptop charting system, and I am hoping that this will alleviate some of the paperwork. The fifth month of my new job I was literally in tears and told my supervisor that if things did not get better by June I was looking for a new job. I thought it only fair to give myself a little more time in the job, but I feel like I've hit another low point where I just want to chuck it all. When I worked in the hospital, after my shift was done that was it--no phone calls to make, no labs to track down, no paperwork to finish, no schedules to do, etc., etc. Does anyone have any advice, any words of wisdom? How do you manage to do a good job without sacrificing so much of your personal life?
