Hospital nursing to Home health?

[Allysong]

Hey! I was just looking to get opinions and/or anyones experiences from switching from a hospital to a home care agency.

I'm currently working on a surgical inpatient floor at a hospital in Ontario and have been for a little over a year now. I'm fortunate enough to have gotten my job right out of nursing school and told myself I'd give myself a year, and if I still wasn't happy I'd start looking for something new. Fast forward, and here we are. I find myself dreading going into work, and am just exhausted with the intensity and high-stress environment of a medsurg floor. I love all the dressing changes, ostomies, IVs and technical skills I get to do. But don't to actually enjoy these things when I've got so many patients, tests, orders, admissions etc. flying at me all at the exact same second.

I know home care is not stress free, so I'm not expecting that. I just want to know if people have found it worth the pay-cut (at least here in Ontario), driving, and the organization that goes into each day.

Any insight is welcomed and appreciated! Thanks guys ?

[Peachpit]

You will likely use a lot the same skills in the home but you are also on your own so you have to be good at time management, skills and documentation. Like everywhere, there is a lot of documentation in home health.

You'll never know unless you try. You can always go back into the hospital setting if home health isn't a good fit for you. And it will be another flavor of nursing you can add to your resume for future employment.

[CaliHHRN, ASN, RN]

Find a per diem home health job that will allow you to work on your days off just so you can get some experience and see if you like it or not. Alot of nurses in California work in hospitals and will pick up a few visits or SOC's after their shifts or on days off to get some extra cash.