Getting your coworkers help : teamwork

[onedayitllbeme]

Hi all,

i have been working in home care/hospice for about 1 year. Sometimes at a patient's house I realize I need help. Maybe I just am not having luck with foley insertion or want second opinion on wound. I usually call my peeps and I know if they are working or not, but I'd love to check a calendar to see who is working that day. Even better be able to see who is closest to me. As it is the calendar is kept on paper at the office. I risk bothering someone on their day off. Or call the office first and ask. What do other places do? Are calendars shared so you know who is working?

it seems simple but my office insists no one needs to know anyone else's schedule. I find this antiquated.

thanks!

[caliotter3]

Call the clinical supervisor. It is their job to help you.

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

That is a bit silly since many health care professionals do their scheduling with on line software now and you do see your units entire schedule and day off requests among other things. We cannot see how much paid time off they have and other private information.

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

This isn't a unit with group scheduling. Individual schedules are maintained by the office scheduling team unless you self schedule with individual clients for skilled visits. You don't get free access to others' schedules in home health. It's not like a facility. The one you go to for support is your clinical supervisor/manager or the off hours you call the on call clinical manager.

Skilled home health/hospice is not facility nursing. You must have strong skills and your support is the clinical supervisor/managers not coworkers like floor nursing. You would either be asking a coworker to work when they are not or take time from other clients who qualify for 1:1 skilled nursing care & assessment. This is a different world. Some agencies have on call wound team/specialists that handle consults regarding wounds

No I don't have access to the schedules of others. No I don't call the office to see who else is working in the field. If I need clinical support I call the clinical or on call clinical support. Only certain field nurses are qualified to precept or consult when the clinical manager is unavailable and that is who I would be directed to if the manager was off. Or unavailable.

[britt85w]

It isn't the job of your co-workers to come out and hold your hand. That is one huge part of home heath- AUTONOMY. As a clinical manager obviously my advise would be to call your your manager for assistance. After that, you need to be checked off by your supervisor in the skills lab and on a patient proficently before you see more patients that require skills you are not efficient in yet.

[NurseCard, ADN]

All of the above. If I got to a patient's house and could not get their

foley inserted, after a couple of tries, I called my case manager and

let them know of the situation, and could someone else please come

out and try ASAP. Then the case manager

would hopefully get with the scheduler and have someone sent out.

I mean, it does happen. Though honestly, my cath-ing skills are

strong. I had more issues with not being able to draw blood.

Sticking people is my kryptonite.