HH nursing input!!

[hittme123]

Hello all HH nurses! I'm contemplating a job with HH. I've interviewed & it has gone very well, it does seem like something I'd be interested in, but again never done it. I have some questions for you...

do any of you work M-F? do you feel you balance your family/"you" time along with your job? do you have time for play?

typically are the patients you see in the field are they happy to see you? welcome you into their homes?

have any of you jumped right into HH and loved it? what was your nursing background before HH? were you a new grad or inexperienced RN (1-2 yrs experience or less)?

what issues do you have with HH? The charting aspect--do you use a laptop from your company? Do you complete all your charting in the home?

what type of car/vehicle do you use to get around?

I currently work on a PCU/telemetry floor, very busy, (I'm on nights-and looking for a more normal schedule). I feel like I sleep way too much and I never have time for me, even though I work 3 nights/wk. I've only been an RN for 1 year, but looking for a new avenue of nursing. Please give any/all input. Thanks!!

[caliotter3]

I do hh shift work and highly recommend it. You have complete control over your schedule. If you want to work M-F, then you tell the staffing people that you want a case where you work M-F, or a combination of cases, for a M-F schedule. If you only want to work two shifts every other weekend, then you have them put you on a case for the Sat Sun shifts, every other weekend. It's totally up to you. Now, how readily the agency can get you into your desired situation is, of course, dependent upon the amount of business they have and whether they are opening any new cases where you can get in from the get go. Otherwise, you have to piece together a schedule.

Others do the visits. I don't do this kind of work because I don't want to be putting that kind of wear and tear on my car and don't really care to have my paperwork multiplied. I do one set of documentation for each shift I work. I don't have to worry about producing 6 or 7 sets of documentation for each day of visits. I also like being able to spread out my work tasks over a 4, 8, or 12 hour shift, rather than running myself ragged trying to get X number of visits done per day and Y number of visits done per week.

I have yet to work for an agency that has computer charting. Since I worked with computers in a past life, I really prefer the paper charting. I have better control over the finished product.

Some recommend that you use an older car and not put all the miles on a new car. Unfortunately, my old car died and I bought a new one. I would prefer not to be putting miles on a new car, but I'm not a multi-car person.

Like many others, I say that hh is one of nursing's best kept secrets. Less stress, more autonomy for the individual. Whenever something doesn't work, all you have to do is to tell you agency personnel that you want a change. You can refuse to work with certain types of patients, or you can be removed from a case, if you need to. You can change your schedule to suit your family life, or school schedule, or to accommodate your full or part time job elsewhere. It's all up to you. Much, much, much harder to say that about 99% of traditional jobs. Hope you like hh.

[Narcoleptic Nurse]

I went from graveyard on a chemical dependency unit to home health 17 years ago and never looked back. I was amazed what it felt like to not be tired all the time after 12 years of night shift. I liked the freedom and I loved the one on one with patients. It was great to be able to actually do the teaching they needed and see how it really changed some lives. I worked mostly in hospital based agencies so had pretty strict guidelines about overtime and didn't let them push it on me as I was a single mom. Some places tried and and some places really pushed the limits of credible home health. I made a rule early on to preserve my integrity and sanity over any job and I left a few for those reasons. I worked in both paper based and computer based agencies and I far preferred a good POC system over tons of papers. I think the time with patients being themselves was the best. A few won't appreciate you but most will and some will see you as their best friend. Just remember the number one rule and never give them your home or cell number. Good luck!

[annaedRN, RN]

I work for a VNA and love it! I work M-F 8-4. I am actually often home by 2 or 3. I do not work weekends but am on-call 430p to 8a Fri/Sat every 6th weekend (not too bad!) The charting takes a while to get used to, but if you learn to do most of it in the patient's home it is not too bad. I use laptop for charting and love it. Still need to pop in the office to sign your stuff though.

I love that each day is different. My patient caseload has a few chronic, long term patients but most are short term, post-hospitalizations...and with the exceptions of a few...my patients are very appreciative that I come. I love the fact that I get to see and do pretty much what you would see on a med-surg floor...but have the time to perform and teach the skills to the family to perform. My agency has us see about 5-6 patients a day, and I don't usually put more than 25-40 miles a day on my car. I drive a Ford fusion (with AWD for those nasty winter days) and it serves me pretty well.

HH is great if you have your assessment skills down, enjoy teaching, like being independent and can be decisive/autonomous. The paperwork can bog you down at first, but after you get it down you'll have plenty of family time. And for me, the pay and benefits are comparable to the local hospital. I've done HH shift work which I enjoyed, but I was not challenged and felt like I was losing my skills. Doing visits I get to perform wound care, ostomy care, IVs (mostly central lines), venipuncture, tube feeds, TPN, catheters... so each visit you get to do something different. Oh, I had my LPN for 7 years then got my RN...so a new RN but not a new nurse! Good luck to you!