Home Health LPN

[Lutie]

Hi everyone,

I know that most Home Health agencies require at least one year of experience when hiring an LPN. Does anyone know if that experience must be in a hopital, LTC, or is a physician's clinic considered enough experience?

[nurse_ann]

I'm not sure about most home health agencies but as a home health nurse myself, your assessment skills are very important.

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

I suspect that they mean bedside experience like med-surg or nursing homes, at least. I got by without it, in fact, a few months after I graduated, I had a part time (on Saturdays) home case with a pediatric patient with a trach. God was by my side, but in retrospect, I wouldn't want to do it again without bedside experience. The mother was a great teacher, and it was really like being a babysitter of a sick kid. But, I saw risks involved, and felt that it was best to leave it because of family dynamics and I was a bit uncomfortable with dealing with the possibility of an emergency. You have to keep in mind that if something happens, you are alone and are expected to sustain this person until help arrives. This does mean to hone in on assessment/observation and intervention skills.

What I would do is if a home care agency does decide to take you on, and offers you a case, try and go see the client before you accept-preferably with another nurse available. This way, you can see if you believe you can handle it. And observe other things...such as family dynamics, the neighborhood, what the expectations are of the agency as well as the client/family. Good luck!