Does home health experience hurt chances of going back to hospital nursing?

caliotter3 · Sep 7, 2011

You can't go back and reverse your experience even if that were the case. You have to work with what you have. If anything, your previous hospital experience should give you a leg up over those who do not have that experience at all. You may have to be a little more persistent in your pursuit of a hospital job, but that would be the case no matter what the situation in today's economy. Good luck.

HealthyNurse · Sep 7, 2011

How are you marketing your HH experience to potential employers? Many nurses/nurse managers that have worked their entire career in acute care settings don't understand what HH is all about. Make sure you highlight your medical-surgical skills on your resume. I don't know what your caseload looks like, but I was caring fo pretty high acuity level patients when I left my position in the field and I utilized many basic med-surg skills on a daily basis. Also, focus on your strengths in patient education- you are a MUCH stronger patient educator than many acute care nurses because of your experience in HH! Another strength to highlight would be the case management skills. With case management, you are responsible for coordinating the entire care of the patient. That is definitely transferable to the in-patient setting. Make sure that you are writing your resume so that the potential employer can make the connection to how you could apply the skills that you do everyday in HH to the hospital setting.

KateRN1 · Sep 8, 2011

Don't forget time management skills, the ability to deal with patients on their own level, prioritization, learning to be self-sufficient, problem solving, independent and critical thinking skills, etc.

Consider applying for in-hospital case management positions or discharge coordinator positions. God knows, those of us in home health can use a discharge planner who knows the score!

Isabelle49 · Sep 8, 2011

Your knowledge of home health would be a big benefit to patients, since you can foresee needs before others might. Unfortunately there is no benefit to this hospital in this area. My daughter has been in home health for 5 years and can't get an interview with a hospital at all.

tinderbox · Sep 10, 2011

Don't forget time management skills, the ability to deal with patients on their own level, prioritization, learning to be self-sufficient, problem solving, independent and critical thinking skills, etc.
Consider applying for in-hospital case management positions or discharge coordinator positions. God knows, those of us in home health can use a discharge planner who knows the score!

I actually do not want to do case management at all. I hate being on the phone all day! Thanks for your above tips, though. It is true. We in home health do do a lot of prioritization, problem solving, etc etc that you mentioned! :)

tinderbox · Sep 10, 2011

Your knowledge of home health would be a big benefit to patients, since you can foresee needs before others might. Unfortunately there is no benefit to this hospital in this area. My daughter has been in home health for 5 years and can't get an interview with a hospital at all.

That is what I am afraid of. That is true, foreseeing patients' needs is a true asset. I wish more hospitals would realize that.

tinderbox · Sep 10, 2011

Thank you all for your advice! I think I may need to review my resume. In the meantime, I will keep trying.

bostonbakednurse · Sep 11, 2011

I have done both home care and hospitals and have not had any difficulty going from one setting to another. Try a hospital per diem position. Might be easier. Good luck.

mommy1975 · Oct 28, 2011

The hospitals here require hospital experience within the last 2 years or they won't take you back. I agree with Tinderbox, try some agency work, that may give you an "in"

tcvnurse, BSN, RN · Oct 28, 2011

I found that having a background in home health made me a much better nurse overall, and when I interviewed for my current position on a step down unit, I mentioned as much to the manager.

It forced me to have much better people skills. I understood family dynamics a lot better. Also, it made me a much more independent practitioner. When you get to someone's house to find them crumping, but they refuse to go to the hospital what do you do?

LOL, I called 911 and let the medics convince the patient. Oddly, having burly firemen/paramedics tell you that you will probably die if they dont take you to the ER tends to get results!!

You also get a very good all round education, taking care of ortho patients, CHFers, cardiac, wound care, IV infusions, Ostomy teaching and training as well as learning how to draw labs and stuff.

I believe it is truly an advantage to have a background in HH, and I was very proud to toot my horn about it. :)

mommy1975 · Oct 28, 2011

I couldn't agree with you more, tcvnurse! I have only been a nurse about 2 years, and, of course, I started bedside. As we know, new nurses are taskmasters and have to learn over time how to see the whole picture. We also long for the job satisfaction of feeling like we are connecting with and helping patients. HH has improved this facet of my bedside manner immensely.

It seems to me, that some nurses think HH is easy, and others wouldn't touch it with a 10 ft pole because of not having the immediate backup of a doctor or other nurse.

I love my patients, as we all do. At the end of the day, that is why we do the job whether it is HH, hospital, or LTC. I try to take every opportunity when I am working bedside on weekends to talk about the HH I do, and educate other nurses on it. Sure, some of them may start to talk down to me, but usually they have an impression of my skill level before we get a chance to talk about it. Actually, many of them say they are interested in home health, and wanted to know more about it. It has been both a good teaching AND LEARNING experience for me. Last weekend, I worked the spine center and then floated to cardiac step down. I had pts that just had thoracotomy, valve replacement, and I helped the charge nurse work out discharging a patient to HH who was ready to go home.

So, the long and short of it is, I agree with you, HH nurses have an INCREDIBLE amount to offer to hospital nursing, but we can't seem to get past the misnomer here among hospitals, which is why they require bedside experience within the last 2 years.