First day on my own and feel like a failure!

[txgal34]

I have worked LTC for 3 1/2 years and decided to get out of the rat race and try some HH. I love the idea of spending one on on time with my pts and actually being able to talk to them instead of the crazy rush of LTC. I was given some training, and they are slowing weaning me into the process a few pts at a time. Working in LTC, I have great time management skills and am used to thorough documention. We are on Kinnser, which is new to me. This HH only takes MCR pts. Today I saw my first two pts on my own. First, let me say I am a perfectionist. I asked my DON for feedback, and when given feed back beat myself up for feeling like I should have done it. I feel overwhelmed, then I feel like an a failure for being overwhelmed by this as I can work a LTC floor with 25 MCR pts but stressed at 2 HH pt's! I feel like I am a bit lost and have to call the DON multiple times to ask questions. Is this normal for a HH newbie, I hope?

[txgal34]

thank you everyone for the positive comments. i now have a little over a week under my belt and am feeling much better. my confidence is growing every day! sometimes i think you just need to hear "it's going to be ok" and i thank you for that :)

[nurse_love]

I kind of feel your pain now...or rather I know I will be feeling your pain if I take my job offer. I am a 3 year CCU/CVICU nurse and have not done any other type of nursing. I feel that I am good at my current job, and I still enjoy it, but I work nights and have a small child and I feel like it's time to try to find some regularity in my life. Going to day shift is a hug pay cut at my job, and I refuse to work even harder for less money. So I've been offered a home health care position. It seems like such a 180 from what I'm doing now, and to be honest, I am scared to death to try it. I mean really, I can handle complex equipment, critically ill pts with 15 drips who are unstable, codes, emergencies, you name it. But home health is scaring me? I've kind of always thought I was a top notch nurse because of what I do every day. But now thinking about going into home health, I realize that every field of nursing is scary, and takes a special type of person to do. I am totally lost and need to make a decision by tomorrow. :-/ Hopefully you will continue to grow everyday, and it will get easier. I do remember it was at least a year in critical care before I didn't go to work every night praying for decent assignments, and that I would have the knowledge I needed to not kill anyone. I guess it's the nature of nursing.

[SweetRN007]

Nurse_love - you will do just fine !! Although you will have a lot more autonomy ... You will find it much easier than your current job ... I will start home health on the first of October .. But I currently work as a Rn supervisor in a assisted living facility all by myself .. I am the only nurse .. I have to do the med pass , respond to an emergency for the whole house which has over 150 residents , and critically think on my own .. There are no lpns or RNs besides me .. All I have is CNAs under me and sometimes they drive me crazy ... Its hard to be on your own and take the iniative ... But its possible ..But I've always felt scared to death with the the thought of ICU nurses job and how they handle so many drips at one given time .. I haven't ever worked in a hospital .. Just ltc nursing homes and assisted living --- So I feel like I really need to get my feet wet in a hospital floor...I will be starting the hh job in two weeks and will keep everyone posted on how it goes :)