Floor Nurse Thinking about Home Health

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I have been a floor nurse for almost 4 years in both acute and acute rehab settings and I did a short stint in an outpatient wound care clinic which I also really liked. I may have an opportunity to do some PRN home care, mostly wound care it sounds like. I have never considered home care before. What do all of you like about being home care nurses? What is the pay range in your area? Are you ever in any scary situations (I'm in scary situations all the time in the hospital but there are always other people around!)? Anything you don't like about it? How many visits do you do a day/week?

I guess I'm just trying to get a feel for if this is something I would enjoy doing, would be worthwhile financailly and would I be good at it. Thanks in advance for any insight!

Specializes in ICU, Home Health and Hospice.

Hi! I work full time in home health, I am not sure what the pay rate would look like for PRN work but certain agencies pay per visit and others are salaried. With bigger companies it is usually a salary. I love the independence and flexibility. It is really nice arranging your day, and sometimes the patients need specific times for certain things but for the most part the timing is totally up to you. I like that I can plan my visits around my appointments. If i want to take a lunch break I can, and if I don't want to, then I don't. I only had one scary situation where a patient's son was getting released from prison and coming to stay with her as he had tried to shoot her the last time he came home and she had guns in the house. I just called one of our security guards and he went with me for the few days I was there. The only thing I don't like is sometimes the case managing. We usually see 6-7 patients per day which is manageable, but with your personal caseload of patients it can be stressful following up with things on the days you are not seeing them. Hope this helps! All in all, it is the best job I've had because we truly get a lot of respect from our patients and managers!

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