People don't take Home Health serious enough..

Nurses General Nursing

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I am a nurse's assistant (I should be starting nursing school this fall) and landed a job as a home health aide. It is the easiest job I ever had in my life.

The downfall is that the aides seem to not take their job serious enough. I had been scheduled to work 3-11pm shift two days in a row last week and I almost worked three shifts..the next aide did not show up to relieve me later that night at 11pm. She was suppossed to work a double shift but chose not to come in because her husband did not agree with her work hours. I was FURIOUS. She had no business making a committment like that if she knew it would conflict with her family.

even worse, the elderly lady's phone had been shut off due to not making any payments on time..and my cell phone battery was low and I couldn't make any phone calls to contact someone about the aide not showing up. So I worked the whole midnight shift (11pm-7pm) I was ****** when I woke up the next morning to see another hour go by and NO ONE had showed up. I had to leave the house and ask a neighbor if I could use their phone. by the time I had notified the company it was 9am and the aide that was supposed to relieve me did not show up till 11am. And I had to be back to work later that day at 3pm but of course I did not work it. That was the most unacceptable behavior I've ever experienced on a job

I'm starting to notice a pattern is that sometimes the aides seem to show up 30-45 minutes late..and waltz in like it's no big deal. I mean, what if I have another job to go to? I don't think I can do this any longer if I start nursing school..I cannot be late and staying over if this is going to continue. The job is so easy and people can't seem to show up on time for that. It's not like you have to do any hard labor.

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I don't blame you for being mad.

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Specializes in Day Surgery, Agency, Cath Lab, LTC/Psych.

That is so unprofessional.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I would be mad also. Is this happening with other patients or just this patient? I would speak to your supervisor and let them know about the problems you see and seek there advice. I don't like to snitch on people but if this is always happening then it needs to be addressed and resolved. Try and do what is best for your patient and their care.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

This is not a surprise, because the home care set up is much more casual. One of the first things I do is make sure that my cell phone is charged up, because I don't want to use the client's phone for anything. I say this because this happened to me once as a home health nurse waiting for relief and my cell was dying as well. I have a primary job as an LPN working in a hospital clinic, I work Mon-Fri. When I work weekend jobs, I make sure that I don't do Sundays after a certain time because heck, I have to get to the job that is paying my benefits. The same when I now to to my med-surg per diem assignments. I do not do evening or night shift on Sundays, ever!!

For what it is worth, I would probably still do home care if I were you while I'm in school, because you can get a great deal of studying in, but I would make sure that it does not conflict with my school schedule.

The actions of these people are very unprofessional, for sure; I would call the agency and let them know that you need timely relief. If the agency is not supportive, either find another agency or again, make sure that you try to assign yourself on days that will not conflict with your classes or clinicals.

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Specializes in med-surg, teaching, cardiac, priv. duty.

Wow! I am so sorry about the irresponsible and unprofessional other home health aides!!! I do "private duty nursing" as a RN. Similar concept to a home health aide except the patient has advanced medical problems that require an RN to be there and the RN's focus is on medical care.

It is sad that the other home health aides are not taking this seriously. Because, in a way, this should be taken MORE SERIOUSLY than other types of nursing jobs! It isn't like a hospital or nursing home, where if you don't show up there will still be many other employees around to cover for you. In the home, YOU are it!! The patient (and family) in the home are really counting on YOU to be there!

So...I think in home health "private duty", whether as a aide or nurse, it is extra important to be responsible, dependable and professional.

I would definetely speak to your supervisor pronto! You can't be expected to stay late all the time, work double shifts (etc) because others are failing to show up on time or show up at all!!!

This may "explain" something for me - I am a very dependable, responsible, and professional employee. I show up on time, I rarely call in sick, and give a big notice when I know ahead of time that I'll need time off for a vacation or whatever. Yet, for instance, the 2 times in the last year I called in (and I called in 5 or 6 hours before my shift) I was hassled, grilled at the stake, and given a very hard time. A responsible and dependable employee should NOT be treated this way. However, it could be that they are used to dealing with unreliable deadbeats most of the time so they treat everyone like they are irresponsible..... BUT it still is not right to treat the responsible ones that way!! Another topic...

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

That is true...many families are dependent on nursing staff to sit with the patient so that they can do other duties, such as laundry, shopping, or even a break, while they know that their loved one is safe at home with a person qualified to ensure good care and judgement. Home care is so casual that many of the employees take it as such.

Scary stuff. Another thing I don't like seeing is how unprofessional many of the nurses or nursing assistants look going to the home, and I am more of a lenient person...I wear jeans myself. But, I don't wear short shorts, revealing clothing, or anything that looks threatening to the patient's home. I have seen some that I would not even open the door to them. Some of them look menacing. And what makes it worse is that some of these poor clients are hostage in their own homes to some people. I think that the screening process needs to be improved.

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Specializes in med-surg, teaching, cardiac, priv. duty.

"For what it is worth, I would probably still do home care if I were you while I'm in school, because you can get a great deal of studying in, but I would make sure that it does not conflict with my school schedule."

I already posted, but just had to agree with this statement in another post. Although a RN already, I am working on a master's degree (not in nursing, but another field). And private duty RN cases are great because I can usually get so much school work done while I am at work!! The current case I am on only has about 10 to 15 minutes of work per hour. (I'm not being lazy, there is simply nothing else to be done!) So the rest of the time I sit and do school work.

So, if you can get some of these problems with other employees worked out, I think home health aide would be a great job as you go through nursing school. You'll be earning some money but be able to get some studying done at the same time.

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As an RN arriving for private duty - the expectation is to arrive 15 minutes early - in order to hear report from the RN going off duty.

When the oncoming staff did not arrive on time, it was effective to phone the agency (as soon as the person is late) - that way, the agency knows immediately and the late staff cannot claim that they arrived on time because they are not present to talk to the agency; and you get paid for extra time that you had to stay.

If you don't phone - the lateness will continue.

By paying you, then the agency does not pay the other person for the late time. By docking pay, the person with the late habit - learns quickly.

And from this situation - your own learning now involves - how to arrange telephone communication (bring your cord to charge your phone so that it will always be ready for an emergency, etc; bring quarters (or phone cards) for use in pay phones and know their location.

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The nurse who is head of the company is a very nice woman and paid me 24 hours for that day because what happened was extremely unacceptable.

That aide who came in extremely late is still employed. I suspect that the RN is desperate for home health aides and really need us working for her. She is a very nice woman, the nicest boss I ever had:)

I figured this job was TOO good to be true. I have only been working there for a month and have already been sitting in for other people's shift because they are either late getting there or not showing up. Luckily, I have no other responsibilites at the moment..the extra money is nice.

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I am a nurse's assistant (I should be starting nursing school this fall) and landed a job as a home health aide. It is the easiest job I ever had in my life.

.............

It's not like you have to do any hard labor.

I agree that this is extremely unprofessional, on all counts: the lateness, AND the no-show.

I *have* to comment though, as a home care nurse for a number of years, I wonder what kind of patient you are caring for that makes you say it "is the easiest job I ever had in my life."

For many home care patients that need an aide, they require almost total care. There is the other extreme where someone has an aide but the aide has little to do.

Seems to me that if this is "the easiest job I ever had" that this patient is either not an appropriate candidate for a home health aide, or many things that *could* be done to care for him/her are not being done by the aides involved. Since I hate to think of that happening (though it happens *way* too often unfortunately), then maybe this person really doesn't need an aide? A home health aide is not supposed to be a "babysitter", but is supposed to help the patient with their personal care needs if they are unable to manage them alone. :confused:

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Specializes in med-surg, teaching, cardiac, priv. duty.

"i agree that this is extremely unprofessional, on all counts: the lateness, and the no-show.

i *have* to comment though, as a home care nurse for a number of years, i wonder what kind of patient you are caring for that makes you say it "is the easiest job i ever had in my life."

for many home care patients that need an aide, they require almost total care. there is the other extreme where someone has an aide but the aide has little to do.

seems to me that if this is "the easiest job i ever had" that this patient is either not an appropriate candidate for a home health aide, or many things that *could* be done to care for him/her are not being done by the aides involved. since i hate to think of that happening (though it happens *way* too often unfortunately), then maybe this person really doesn't need an aide? a home health aide is not supposed to be a "babysitter", but is supposed to help the patient with their personal care needs if they are unable to manage them alone."

i just *have* to comment back. :) perhaps it is where i have come from - as a hospital nurse (for 14 years), i usually had 8 to 10 patients and sometimes half of them were total care. it was insane. you took off running when you arrived on the unit and did not stop until you left. yet, you left feeling that your patients did not get proper care from you. it was impossible to do all that needed to done. it was hectic, stressful, and very hard work.

now i've done private duty rn level cases for over 3 years. (and many years ago now i did some work on a home care aide case.) these were/are the easiest nursing jobs i have ever had. in comparison to the hospital....it is a cakewalk! you only have one patient. one. even if they are total care, you are there for an entire shift. there is more than enough time to do everything that needs to be done (and more!!) and still have plenty of time left over to do what you want....read a book, do school work if you are a student, whatever. the patient does not need care or assistance every single moment.

on my current rn level case, there is only about 10 to 15 minutes of work per hour. it's not laziness or neglect of things that could be done, there is simply nothing else that needs to be done. the patient is receiving exceptionally good care - at least from me.

that said, i know there are probably many cases where home care aides or private duty nurses are indeed lazy or neglectful and not giving the patient the care they deserve to get. this is especially sad and ridiculous considering that they only have one patient. and also sad that in the home they are more likely to get away with it. like i said in another post, high standards of professionalism are, in certain ways, even more important in the home care setting. it is too easy to take advantage of or neglect the weak, old, and disabled.

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