Graduate Programs - Which to choose?

Hi Melissa, Welcome aboard and congratulations on making the first steps toward a new career. I am a Nurse Administrator and I am basically responsible for the day to day operations of the agency I work for. I do budgeting, marketing, personnel matters, and monitor the paperwork that is turned in. I also manage to go out and see some patients on occasion to prevent my skills from going rusty. I work in home health at the moment. It's a very rewarding position and I enjoy my work. I wish you the very best in your new career.:welcome:

Hi Melissa, Welcome aboard and congratulations on making the first steps toward a new career. I am a Nurse Administrator and I am basically responsible for the day to day operations of the agency I work for. I do budgeting, marketing, personnel matters, and monitor the paperwork that is turned in. I also manage to go out and see some patients on occasion to prevent my skills from going rusty. I work in home health at the moment. It's a very rewarding position and I enjoy my work. I wish you the very best in your new career.:welcome:

Is is a stressful job? and what is home health?

No, it's no more stressful than any other nursing job. It's what you make of it. I have wonderful, competent, professional staff that know their work like the back of their hands and it makes my life much easier. Couldn't do it without them. Home health is giving care to a person in their home, usually once they have been discharged from the hospital or long term care facility and just require more services. We provide physical, occupational and speech therapies, home health aides and skilled nursing for IVs, wound care, etc. It's great because you really get to know the patients and their home situations. When you discharge them from the hospital, most of the time, the floor staff at the hospital doesn't really know what they go home to, but we as home health staff actually go to their house and provide care. Very rewarding.

Nurse Administrators can be a varied lot. I am the supervisor for nights at my hospital - I work 80 hrs every 2 weeks, plus about 5 hours extra for meetings. I'm salary so don't get paid for those extra meetings (which makes my natural desire to join in and help out on new projects a bit problematic since I could easily fill up another 40 hours or so with new projects.)

My job entails keeping through-put moving in the hospital - basically I help manage the flow of patients from the Emergency department into the hospital. I also field calls from doctors wishing to schedule emergency surgeries or add-on, families inquiring about their loved ones, other hospitals looking for beds or medical records. I also am the clinical support on nights - if the charge can't answer a question or help with a procedure they call me (anything from NG tubes, foley's, concerns on restraints, applying a sitter, etc). I also will admit patients for the floors if we don't have a housefloat (sometimes even if we do, depending on how many are coming from the ED.) I also run the medical response team (if yo have a concern about a patient you call me and RT before it becomes critical) and I run the code team along with the doctor. Finally, I am an all-purpose gopher - need tube feedings at 0200? call me. Need special IV tubing? Blood on uniform? Needlestick exposure? That's me.

Some nights I can be swamped with issues needing my attention. Other nights (like tonight) everything is running smoothly and I can browse allnurses (to extend my education of course ).

I find this job a lot of fun, very stimulating, and very educational. I see what works and what doesn't throughout the hospital and I serve as a bridge between ED and the floors.

Hope this helps,

Pat