Four month in. Ugh.

adreamdeferred, MSN, RN, APRN, NP · Sep 20, 2015

If this is your first rodeo I would say to give yourself some time, like at least another six months and your improvement will be like night and day. That is the best thing you can do because you need to alter your expectations and adjust for the learning curve that comes with going into home health. That may take a little of the frustration out of the picture if you have a talk with yourself and say, "you'll get it, you're getting better every day". Talk with your family and explain that you are in a learning stage and things may be a little different until you get your rhythm. How long are you spending at your visits? When at all possible take the extra time and chart as much as you can in the home, it makes a huge difference especially for the routine visits. Try to develop a systematic approach to your visits so that you can accomplish everything you need to and concentrate on improving efficiency. The less "unnecessary" time you waste in a patient's home the more time you have to chart "on the clock". Go right in and get vitals and do assessment, whatever skill or teaching you need to do, this should be the bulk of your visit. Then chart and make small talk. I used to do the opposite and try to glean information while we talked or I did some teaching and chart. I would leave my vitals, assessment and skill for last. Yeah...I was in the home an hour or more. If it's not an Oasis visit or an emergency I have no business in any patient's home for an hour is how I look at it. I average thirty five minutes including charting for a routine visit. This will take time because not every day or visit is the same but if you like home health at all you will have to give yourself a chance. I think we all share your frustrations with the doctor's offices. I don't understand the 14 days in a row, can't help you there. I hope things get better for you.

rachelljohnson · Sep 21, 2015

Can I just say that I am in the same boat.............I started about 5 months ago and am so miserable its not funny. I have never been so unhappy in a job. I knew there would be a learning curve and time management is not my issue....because frankly I just flat refuse to work 12 hour days............so instead I am consistently under productivity points every week.......and I never realized how my whole life would revolve around 5.2 points a day...........I have nightmares about it. Anyway, I keep hearing how I'm doing such a great job, great nurse, dont want to lose me.......but I can't take it. I'm on vacation the next 3 days and my husband (who generally stays out of it, and says do what makes you happy and is just supportive) has finally stepped up and said he thinks I should look for a different job..........i hate the idea of being a quitter after 5 months but the thought of doing this another 5 months makes me want to cry.

the worst part.............I love the job..........but the constant micromanagement every day for productivity is killing me............anyway, just want you to know you are not alone.

Libby1987 · Sep 21, 2015

I would look at your seasoned coworkers to see if the way your offices are managed make the expectations plausible or unrealistic.

Ive worked with nurses who struggle and pull the long frustrating hours but I can also demonstrate how it is possible to work reasonable hours while getting everything done and provide quality care. With our office it is more learning curve dependent as well as living in the coverage area and even better in your territory.

Mom2boysRN · Sep 26, 2015

There is definitely a learning curve with home health as with any other kind of nursing. I agree with the advise given so far. Ask the more seasoned employees how they get their charting done. If you have a choice where you take patients try and get them closer to home or clustered in a particular area. On call is never fun, but I think of that being the trade off for not having to work every other weekend and holiday like you do in a hospital or other facility. Like has been said, give it 6 months before you decide to leave.

danarooo, BSN, RN · Oct 5, 2015

I am a little over 4 months in and some days are great, others horrible. It does get better and I'm seeing small glimpses of this, what really gets me is we have an office full of nurse managers yet our office is the only one where the managers in the office WILL NOT help their field staff with patient visits when they are in the weeds. We have a high patient census and I know they have hard jobs too but the buck gets passed to the case managers ALL the time and we are overloaded already. The job is great, the unrealistic expectations from management and lack is support makes the job almost unbearable much of the time. Most the staff is seasoned and that is the only reason their hasn't been a mass exodus. I have heard from so so many of my fellow coworkers they are just waiting for management to change so things can be better again. I am not sure I can wait for that as my stress levels can't get much higher w/out a serious health event coming to pass. The lack of organization and communication is absolutely astounding and the reason for about 80% of my daily stress.