Hours worked? Just curious....

nursemelani · Feb 17, 2006

I am a pediatric home health LVN. I work 9-5 with one regular patient, but there are plenty of 3pm to 11pm shifts, or 7pm to 7am. This is respite care, not visits. I am sure that visiting nurses have to work during the day.

PM me if you have more questions.

DutchgirlRN, ASN, RN · Feb 17, 2006

I work part-time in HH. I schedule myself. Some days I have 2-3 patients, other days I have 5-6 patients. If I start around 8:30 I'm usually home by 2:00. If I start around 10:00 I'm home by 4:00. I frequently stop and shop a little or visit a big book store. I did hospital work for 30 years and I am absolutely loving HH. My agency has a nurse on call 24/7 which I'm sure they all do but very very rarely do they ever go out past 7:00pm. If it's important the patients are told to go to the ER. We do have nurses who work weekends only. We have a baylor program. 12 hours on Sat and Sun.

Full time during the week is considered 30 visits per week. Admits, Recerts and Readmits are equal to two visits. I am lucky that I only do visits in the small county where I live. I only go to the office once a week (25 miles away) on Wednesday mornings for case conference and to pick up supplies. They have arranged for me to drop off labs at the local hospital here so I don't have to go to the office for labs. I also have a PT/INR machine. I fax my own paperwork from my home. It's working out great for me so far. Today I saw two patients, went out to a planned lunch with friends then saw 3 more patients and was home by 3:00pm.

The absolute best part about HH is that the patients are happy to see you, thank you and are genuinely grateful. It's a pleasure to take care of them. The hospital has gotten to be such a hostile area with the patients and the patients families. I'm not finding this in home health, at least not yet. So far my worst day has been the day I ran over a chicken.

Traveler · Feb 17, 2006

If you are on call you may be seeing patients any day of the week and any time of the day or night. Depending upon the agency's coverage area, it may be a patient you have never seen before and may be very far away. It is not unusal for me to drive 200 miles on a Saturday on call if there are admissions and post hospitals. If there are IV's going, chances are better that you'll have to go out. Wdvacs can also mean middle of the night visits.

HomeofLove4Him · Feb 17, 2006

Oh ok...so what I'm thinking of is called respite care, then? Does that mean someone is on their death bed or does it just mean 1 nurse per patient (not nec. on their death bed)? And so, are those the typical hours/shifts available? I don't think I could do the daytime home-visits thing (though it sounds nice and very flexible!) because of my kids. I was kinda hoping for something that would let me be able to avoid childcare (I have a dh who works reg shift, 8-4:30 usu. home by 5:30 or 6) 3-11 would be an awesome shift, for me... but would mean needing childcare. I'm guessing you can't bring your kids along with you for those home visits or respite care, huh?

nursemelani · Feb 17, 2006

Oh ok...so what I'm thinking of is called respite care, then? Does that mean someone is on their death bed or does it just mean 1 nurse per patient (not nec. on their death bed)? And so, are those the typical hours/shifts available? I don't think I could do the daytime home-visits thing (though it sounds nice and very flexible!) because of my kids. I was kinda hoping for something that would let me be able to avoid childcare (I have a dh who works reg shift, 8-4:30 usu. home by 5:30 or 6) 3-11 would be an awesome shift, for me... but would mean needing childcare. I'm guessing you can't bring your kids along with you for those home visits or respite care, huh?

Not nec. on their death bed (unless you work for hospice), but they have to be pretty sick to qualify for a nurse. If it was a little old lady who needed help with her shower, she would get a home health aide, not an RN or LPN.

With my agency, I give them my availability for the coming month, and they send me a schedule a couple of days later.

NrsJena · Feb 18, 2006

I don't do the extended hourly that many do. I see upwards of four-six clients a day, usually scheduled between 8:30 AM and home by 1:30-3:00, depending. I schedule my own times so that I can take my youngest to school and be home after school. I love it. I do work six days a week- seven at times and take on call M-F.

steelcityrn, RN · Feb 18, 2006

maybe what your looking for is private duty nursing. usually to be there for a entire shift there is going to be either a feeding tube, iv or vent. i took care of a man for years with als on a vent and tube feed. it was a great job except it was all nightturn. thats back in the days i still loved nights. job became so mundane that the biggest challange i had was do i watch cheaters or the tonight show? that man had round the clock rn only care. he had one good insurance plan. hospice care can also be in shifts, but patients tend to not be around long, and your moving around jobs more often.

[color=yellow]steelers = super bowl champs!

TBrownlee · Feb 20, 2006

I work in HH and LTC. I absolutly love HH because I am casual and I can work my own hours. I work M/W/F after the kids go to school, drop my yougest off at preschool and be able to come home early in the day or before the kids get off the bus. I work from 9 to 3 and can have up to 6 patients a day or an open and four visits and still be done in time to get home. The paperwork has been increasingly ridicoulous and more and more gets added on and Im starting to wonder if its really worth the pay per visit to do this.

Tricia:nurse:

STEELERS SUPER BOWL CHAMPS!!!!

Jo Dirt · Feb 23, 2006

I've done private duty (7p-7a, mostly) for the past 1.5 yrs. and I am so ready for a change. I just finished school to become a registered nurse and should take my NCLEX mid-April and I am full of hope I will be able to find a job as a visiting/home health nurse. About the only negative thing I have ever heard anyone say is that there are times you will be expected to drive 100 miles away just to do an admit, and one visiting nurse said a weekend she was on call she was expected to go give a patient a bath at 2am because she had decided to go out the next day)

Private duty can be a lazy person's dream come true (though we had one female patient (and her family) who assumed we had been sent to serve as maids/cooks/errand runners...it took awhile but we eventually reached an "understanding") anyway, I have also had private duty jobs where they expected you to sleep at night-really nice-but all in all I'm tired of being trapped in someone's house 12 hours at a time and the prospect of being a visiting nurse sounds so appealing right now.

4valeri · Mar 4, 2006

Here are three catagories that have some similarites. I have been reading alot here about the paperwork and pay for HH.What about respite? Is this through a specific company? What about the paperwork and pay for Private Duty? Here in central NY I am Private duty nurse, Self employed. I have medicaid provider # and bill medicaid directy via computer and get paid weekly LPN 21.63hr. I do 1 pediatric case FT and 1 PT, have been LPN for 8yrs, in HH 7yrs and 1st yr med/surg. Definately love homecare best!! Looking for ideas when hubby and i move to a warmer climat in a few years!!love to here other responses in these fields!!

nursemelani · Mar 4, 2006

Here are three catagories that have some similarites. I have been reading alot here about the paperwork and pay for HH.What about respite? Is this through a specific company? What about the paperwork and pay for Private Duty? Here in central NY I am Private duty nurse, Self employed. I have medicaid provider # and bill medicaid directy via computer and get paid weekly LPN 21.63hr. I do 1 pediatric case FT and 1 PT, have been LPN for 8yrs, in HH 7yrs and 1st yr med/surg. Definately love homecare best!! Looking for ideas when hubby and i move to a warmer climat in a few years!!love to here other responses in these fields!!

Hi- How did you get a medicaid provider number and arrange to be paid by the state? I do pediatric home health, but I work for an agency and earn only $17/hr. Do you have to submit charting/paperwork to the state?