Help! New to home health!

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Hello!

I have been a nurse for about 4years and have worked in a hospital on a busy med surg unit. Recently I have gotten a new job at a home health agency. I am so incredibly excited and have only been working there for 2 weeks but I know I am going to genuinely love my new job:) However! I am a bit overwhelmed. There are so many things to learn and I never fully understood how knowledgable home health nurses are!! Does anyone have any suggestions for someone new to home health to make the process easier? Any books worth buying to help? Anyone want to break down Medicare/Medicaid- oasis assessments, etc?? Any help or ideas are greatly appreciated! Thanks so much in advance.

Specializes in Oncology, Med-Surg.

One good book is "The Handbook of Home Health Standards: Quality, Documentation and Reimbursement." by Tina Marrelli. Care2Learn has some intro to home health classes such as "Getting Started in Home Health" , "Home Care basics", "Medicare coverage for Home Health", OASIS, "Oasis and PPS", "For nurses new to home health". these are all pretty good and I've used them to create orientation at my agency. You can also get the OASIS manual at www.cms.gov. Give yourself at least 6 months to make the transition to home health, its pretty different than what you're used to.

Thank you so very much!! Ill look into getting these books and check out the cms website.

Wow. what a powerhouse of information. Now I'm even curious!

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