Help choosing-Home Health or Dialysis?

JustMeRN · Mar 30, 2015

Hi. I think it really depends on what you are looking for in a job. I started in home health 6 months ago, after 12 years med-surg and 2 years of outpatient. I love home health. It is a perfect fit for me. But, I think it probably depends a lot on the agency, I have ready a lot of experiences here where the agencies are just awful to work with. I would ask the home health agency if you can shadow a nurse in the field, and pick her brain a bit. Ask her (him) about her patient load, what her usual day looks like, if she does a lot of after hours work, how the agency is to work for, if they are supportive, what she likes about her job, what she doesn't.

Home health is a very independant job. I much prefer to be on my own so it is perfect for me. If you like the social aspect that comes as working with a large team of nurses home health may not be for you. I find schedule wise the nurses at my agency have a great deal of flexibility, but again that migt be something you need to ask about.

outside_child · Apr 6, 2015

I have a friend who worked HH for over 20 yrs. She started out in the field and had different positions such as marketing, case management, etc. She left HH for 3 yrs to work in dialysis. She said dialysis is stressful and chaotic esp. at shift change. Patients can crash esp. if noncompliant, they call the state, and gossip among each other about the staff. The hours are long. Needless to say she is back in HH and is happy. I spoke with hospital dialysis nurses and they prefer to work dialysis in the hospital because it is less stressful. The other side of working in the hospital is long hours and being on call even in the middle of the night.

nurseontheway · Apr 7, 2015

I have been in dialysis for almost five years and am trying to get into home health. I like it but it is a physical job and the patients can be very moody. It depends on what company you work for and if you work as a team with the technicians and other nurses. It is hard to say what is the right thing to do since I only have experience on the dialysis side. I work in a chronic unit and have never worked in a hospital. It is nice because we have Sunday off and don't have to worry about being on call.

love2beanurse · Apr 7, 2015

I worked in dialysis 3 years before getting into home health. I really enjoyed dialysis at the time because it was mostly routine once you learned it. It did become redundant and the income was just mediocre. When a home health job became available I decided to jump on thr opportunity. I'm very glad I did. I love the flexibility of the job. I also love the one on one time with my patients and being independent in my job. The charting is the only con with home health. It is a lot to learn but not too bad once you get it down. Things change a lot in home health too. Overall I wouldn't go back to dialysis or hospital after being in home health for 4 years. They say you will love home health or hate it.