Calling all HH Nurses, roll call

[hoolahan]

Hi, as a newly appointed moderator, I want to live this forum up a bit. I just resigned my position as a HH supervisor, to go back to the field.

I have been a nurse 20 years, 17 in critical care, mostly cardiac critical care, and the last 2.5 years in HH, or asthma disease management , which I also had to leave because I hated to be in a cube farm all day.

I still love HH, even though PPS is the pits, even though the OASIS would make good kindling for a massive bonfire, and even with all the rest of the paperwork, it is the most rewarding nursing I have ever done!!

PS, I went back to my former VNA who is now paying $30/hr, yes, you read that right, to work 3 out of 4 weekends. Since weekends work well for me, it's a good deal.

Let's hear from all the HH nurses out there. Out of all those registered members, there's got to be plenty of us on this BB!!

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Wishing a warm welcome to all the new HH forum members.

[janetpiano]

I'm new to Home Health Care--this week on my first assignment through Pediatric HHC agency in the Philadelphia area---Have 29 years experience in Nursing--in Asthma office care, med-surg(long ago) OB, Skilled in Nursing Home, school nursing of medically fragile kids, residential mh/mr medically complex --nursing has been good to me,by and large, but the increasingly fast-paced running to accomplish more than is humanly possible(if you care about the quality of care as we were trained to be) has prompted my jump to home care doing shift work(8 hours at one home)...I'm very excited to find this forum at this moment in time, and would welcome any words of advice from the seasoned nurses in the field....thanks!!! j.

[Brita01]

I'm new to Home Health Care--this week on my first assignment through Pediatric HHC agency in the Philadelphia area---Have 29 years experience in Nursing--in Asthma office care, med-surg(long ago) OB, Skilled in Nursing Home, school nursing of medically fragile kids, residential mh/mr medically complex --nursing has been good to me,by and large, but the increasingly fast-paced running to accomplish more than is humanly possible(if you care about the quality of care as we were trained to be) has prompted my jump to home care doing shift work(8 hours at one home)...I'm very excited to find this forum at this moment in time, and would welcome any words of advice from the seasoned nurses in the field....thanks!!! j.

Welcome! I too left the busy floor 18 months ago to do this type of home care. My patient is the loveliest girl who wasn't supposed to see the age of 10. She just turned 19 this month! I'm sure you will find this work very rewarding and satisfying. Having enough time to give quality care is the best part of this job. Good luck to you.

[janetpiano]

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welcome! i too left the busy floor 18 months ago to do this type of home care. my patient is the loveliest girl who wasn't supposed to see the age of 10. she just turned 19 this month! i'm sure you will find this work very rewarding and satisfying. having enough time to give quality care is the best part of this job. good luck to you.

brita, thanks for your reply---the camaraderie of on-line sharing of experience to be found on this great website is terrific...one thing about hh nursing i was concerned about was a loss of interaction with other nurses during the shift---knowing there is cyber-connecting available here makes me glad! thanks again for taking the time to reply to this newby to hh!! j

[barefootlady, ADN, RN]

Have just started doing home health. I am overwhelmed and don't that I am getting what I need to know to do the job. The nurse's I am working with are nice, concerned, and knowledgeable. I just feel lost. Any tips on how to do the best job for the clients who will be under my care?

[CardioTrans, BSN, RN]

Have just started doing home health. I am overwhelmed and don't that I am getting what I need to know to do the job. The nurse's I am working with are nice, concerned, and knowledgeable. I just feel lost. Any tips on how to do the best job for the clients who will be under my care?

__________________

One of the most important things in home care is to be organized. You have to have good time management skills as well.

When I was case managing I had a large 3 ring binder that I had all my patients info in. Face/demographic sheet, 485, calendar, and all updated orders. They were all in sheet protectors. As I saw the patients I would take out the info and make changes on the 485 in red (like med changes, exac of diagnosis etc) then when it came time for recert I could look at it and update everything. Make a new calendar and go from there.

Arrange your day according to the skills that need to be done. I used to work in a circle distance wise. Sometimes I would go to the furtherest one away from the office and work my way back, or start closest to the office. Depending on what needed to be done, or what I had to do personally (like MD appt, things for the kids etc.)

Hope this helps, and good luck to you.

Welcome to all the others new to home care! Hope you love it as much as I do.

[Hairstylingnurse]

• Chello all, I just wanted to ask some of you private duty nurses what a typical day is like???? I'm currently in home health where I do 5-7 visists a day, and wonder how different private duty is. Does your day go really slow after most of your pt. care is done. Do you give the pt. bath and all other ADL's? Does a cna or pct come to the house,or is it just you all day long? Do u usually have a good relationship with the family? Do u assist OT,PT,ST, when they come visit the pt. How much paper work do u have? I hope for your sake it doesn't compare with home health. I love home health, but want to try as many different area's of nursing as I can. I'm a nurse of 3yrs( this is a second career). So could any of u tell me about your typical day, the pros & cons of private duty? I would be most greatful and let me say what a wonderful website this is. I just found it and haven't even been to any of my other nursing websites since I found this one. Thanx in advance
  

[Brita01]

• Chello all, I just wanted to ask some of you private duty nurses what a typical day is like???? I'm currently in home health where I do 5-7 visists a day, and wonder how different private duty is. Does your day go really slow after most of your pt. care is done. Do you give the pt. bath and all other ADL's? Does a cna or pct come to the house,or is it just you all day long? Do u usually have a good relationship with the family? Do u assist OT,PT,ST, when they come visit the pt. How much paper work do u have? I hope for your sake it doesn't compare with home health. I love home health, but want to try as many different area's of nursing as I can. I'm a nurse of 3yrs( this is a second career). So could any of u tell me about your typical day, the pros & cons of private duty? I would be most greatful and let me say what a wonderful website this is. I just found it and haven't even been to any of my other nursing websites since I found this one. Thanx in advance
  

I answered a question like this about a month ago, but for some reason I can't copy and paste what I wrote back then. So here is a link to my post in the thread. It's my typical shift in detail. It doesn't answer all your questions because I work nights and have no interaction with therapists. My paperwork consists of MARs, nursing notes, and an equipment cleaning task sheet. The only con I have found is that when you can't work your shift, it's hard to get another nurse to cover because we all have assigned nights. So the mother ends up having to take care of the patient. I hope this link helps you out.

https://allnurses.com/forums/showpost.php?p=868329&postcount=14

[Traveler]

Have just started doing home health. I am overwhelmed and don't that I am getting what I need to know to do the job. The nurse's I am working with are nice, concerned, and knowledgeable. I just feel lost. Any tips on how to do the best job for the clients who will be under my care?(quote)

Being overwhelmed is normal. barefootlady you wrote your post about 3 weeks ago. I bet it has gotten much better since then. I have done hh for almost 4 years but started a new home health job last week in an area that I know nothing about. I feel comfortable with the visits but don't know many of the patients yet and am not quite comfortable with the agencies requirements for paperwork. My production at this point is low. Remember that at least for the first several months you will feel like you don't know what you're doing half of the time- that is totally normal. On my last job I spent lots of time at first working in the office and asking tons of questions. It will be the same with this new job I'm sure. Someone mentioned how being organized was important- I agree. One problem I'm having with this new job is that it's in a very small rural area. The other nurses in the office have grown up there so they know all of the backroads. Because of this, the directions are awful!!!!! I always try to write directions for a person who has never been to the area before. It can make for a very frustrating day when you run around lost. Added to that, the majority of the coverage area I am in has no cell service. I always try to put: "go 0.4 miles and see school on left, turn right at next road- Shell Ave....." It makes a big difference.

[Hairstylingnurse]

Hi Traveler, has anyone at your agency,refered you to mapquest? It is wonderful and there are several other similar websites for free. Ofcourse, you may be in a area that is too rural. Just a suggestion and hang in there

[Hairstylingnurse]

Brita, thanks for such an informative reply on your typical day. Your pt. must sleep off & on al day long. I couldn't imagine being up and down like that all night. But your post has defiantly peeked my interest. I can't find anything on line about private duty nursing.Thanx again

[Traveler]

Way too rural for MapQuest. I'm just feeling my way along.