Home Health or Corrections

[IndecisiveNurse]

Hi. I am trying to choose between two jobs at the moment. One of them is home health and the other would be in a prison. I do not have experience in either area but will have to take one of them. My primary experience is in the acute care setting. I am not the most assertive person by any means but like the hours at the correctional facility better. Has anyone else ever had to make a decision like this before?

[DavidDudley]

I have worked both home health and corrections and I personally hate them both. Which one you should do ultimately depends on your personality and what you like. I'll briefly breakdown some pros and cons with both options.

Home health

pros - very flexible schedule, you work alone (for the most part), you spend a lot of time in your car driving, you get to focus on strictly one patient at a time as opposed to being stretched thin with multiple patients in a hospital or SNF setting

cons - endless massive charting(you will take your work home), being called out of the comfort of your home to go see a patient when your most relaxed and comfortable, always being audited for anything and everything

Corrections

pros - great retirement and benefits, autonomy, physically easy job

cons - not much team nursing, your pretty much it. Needy and deceptive inmates, backstabbing and gossiping nurses, management that makes your life hell, lack of appreciation from management, absurd prison politics

As far as money goes, there's alot of money that can be made in both areas, but how much money you make in home health comes down to how many patients your willing to see.

[caliotter3]

One difference between hh and corrections is that when a hh client pushes you around, particularly when they are demanding that you commit fraud, the agency employer treats them as if they are the honey from heaven, whereas, in a correctional facility, you are allowed to enforce the policies without necessarily losing your job over inconsistent employer behavior.

[LilRedRN1973]

whereas, in a correctional facility, you are allowed to enforce the policies without necessarily losing your job over inconsistent employer behavior.

This.