How do you get a job like this where you have lots of free time?

catebsn25 · Jan 2, 2014

Do a google search of home health agencies in your area. They are usually always looking for home health aides. However I was under the impression that you need to be a CNA or a certified home health aide. Do a little research on facilities close to you and you will find your answers.

Missingyou, CNA · Jan 2, 2014

In some states you can be a home health aide and not need to be certified, you will get paid much less tho without certification. For example in Michigan, you can do direct care with a home care agency and get paid somewhere between $7.40 to $8.25 at the most. If you were a CNA you'd be paid anywhere up to about $12. hour doing the exact same thing.

In Connecticut, you can NOT have any hands on care with a resident at all unless you are certified. You can do home care uncertified but your only tasks would be cleaning house, running errands, cooking, sitting with a resident (companion). This type of job usually pays minimum wage.

You can also be a sitter at a hospital. Some hospitals hire directly, others go through a home care agency. As a sitter, you would just sit with a confused resident and watch that they don't climb out of bed or pull out I.V etc. You literally can not take your eyes off the patient, no watching t.v or reading for usually 8 hour shift. Again, doesn't pay much more than minimum wage and work is not consistant.

hhealthai · Jan 3, 2014

Thank you. If you move to a different state, can you still be certified the same and is it not hard to transfer over state your CNA certification?

hhealthai · Jan 4, 2014

Does CNA have not very much free time even during the night shift, while home health aides do have plenty of free time during the night shift? So would that make getting a CNA certificate not worth it and one should get HHA degree if given the choice, if free time is what one wants?

i_love_patient_care · Jan 5, 2014

I've done both. I actually stumbled upon being a sitter. I did about 1 year of work (CNA) in skilled nursing/long term care, and then got hired to an agency that staffs hospitals and nursing homes. The agency paid about the same as I was making in skilled nursing. Most of the time I was sent to hospitals as a sitter, and the PP is correct that you're not supposed to read or sleep while watching the patient. As far as I know, from previous replies to threads from nurses, those jobs are being phased out to cut costs. They will hire people who are not certified so the pay grade can be cheaper for the hospital. I actually liked being on the floor better than being a sitter in the hospital because the night went faster.

Right now, after three years of bouncing between hospital work (agencies are a pain to deal with, most of the time for me), and skilled nursing, I ended up in home health. I love it! I can spend the time with my client that I always wanted to in facilities. There is way more downtime, and it's better on my body. Right now my client and family are extremely nice, and the pay is very good because they are paying privately. Recently my client had a UTI (chronic condition using catheters a lot), and so lost mobility during the hospital stay. The family is paying me to be at the rehab facility for a few hours per day, as a sitter, when the daughter isn't there.

In my experience, during the night shift, it's unpredictable how much free time anyone can have. I used to study at night, but I wouldn't depend on having down time to study. Some nights can be like a three ring circus haha. Good luck. PM me if you have any questions if you need to.

FutureCRNA?, BSN, RN · Jan 5, 2014

Ugh, I HATE sitting. I'm an aide on a surgical floor and I absolutely hate getting floated to sit. It's incredibly boring and I'd much rather be running my butt off on the floor.

hhealthai · Jan 6, 2014

Ugh, I HATE sitting. I'm an aide on a surgical floor and I absolutely hate getting floated to sit. It's incredibly boring and I'd much rather be running my butt off on the floor.

Did it require you to have a cert to be an aide? How often do you get floated to sit? What does floated mean?

hhealthai · Jan 6, 2014

I've done both. I actually stumbled upon being a sitter. I did about 1 year of work (CNA) in skilled nursing/long term care, and then got hired to an agency that staffs hospitals and nursing homes. The agency paid about the same as I was making in skilled nursing. Most of the time I was sent to hospitals as a sitter, and the PP is correct that you're not supposed to read or sleep while watching the patient. As far as I know, from previous replies to threads from nurses, those jobs are being phased out to cut costs. They will hire people who are not certified so the pay grade can be cheaper for the hospital. I actually liked being on the floor better than being a sitter in the hospital because the night went faster.
Right now, after three years of bouncing between hospital work (agencies are a pain to deal with, most of the time for me), and skilled nursing, I ended up in home health. I love it! I can spend the time with my client that I always wanted to in facilities. There is way more downtime, and it's better on my body. Right now my client and family are extremely nice, and the pay is very good because they are paying privately. Recently my client had a UTI (chronic condition using catheters a lot), and so lost mobility during the hospital stay. The family is paying me to be at the rehab facility for a few hours per day, as a sitter, when the daughter isn't there.
In my experience, during the night shift, it's unpredictable how much free time anyone can have. I used to study at night, but I wouldn't depend on having down time to study. Some nights can be like a three ring circus haha. Good luck. PM me if you have any questions if you need to.

What measures could one take to makes sure that one gets a job where most of the shift is downtime? Are there certain type of places one might look for that usually have mostly downtime for the overnight shifts?

Should you call around home health agency and say you specifically want to monitor patients overnight?

hhealthai · Jan 8, 2014

To get overnight companion jobs, is CNA certification redundant? Or would it help your chances of getting the job over those who don't have any certificate?

When I was a CNA I worked for a home health company, and some of the overnight companion jobs allowed TONS of free time.
One job was come in at 10pm, sit in a dimly lit room (with book + book light) and monitor an Alzheimer patient during the night (in case he tried to get up). Only a few times did he wake up confused, and I redirected him back to bed or called staff to help him (the facility was responsible for changing him, we just prevented falls). That lasted about a year.
Another was an elderly paraplegic - I would arrive at his house at 8pm, watch TV with him until 10pm, do a twenty minute routine to get him to bed (bathroom, transfer, etc), then I went to my room (I had a private bedroom/bathroom/shower etc) and monitor him via baby monitor during the night. I was allowed to sleep (just turning the radio up high incase he yelled for me),,,usually I brought my laptop and talked online to my wife each night, then sleep at around 2am, wake up at 7am, shower, wake him up and the next shift would arrive and begin cooking breakfast.
Another had me driving someone who was post stroke to the gym each day for rehab - he got me a temporary membership, but I preferred bringing books and studying.
It was a very nice gig while it lasted (I became a nurse), base pay was $10 but went up to $15 depending. I worked with that company for about a year and a half.
I don't think I'll ever get paid to sleep again though.....

Lizzly · Jan 10, 2014

I don't have tons of free time working at assistant living but we get free time when everyone rests later in the even on second shift. I sit in a chair in the corner and study in my free time. We are not supposed to sit down much but I do anyways. If there is nothing else to do, I don't see why we can't rest. Getting paid to study for your future is a great idea. I work only on Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun now and go to school Monday- Thursdays which works out well for me. I thought about trying home health myself.

FutureCRNA?, BSN, RN · Jan 11, 2014

Did it require you to have a cert to be an aide? How often do you get floated to sit? What does floated mean?

Well to be an aide in my hospital, yes you have to be a CNA and they only use aides to sit, on an as-needed basis.

I don't get floated to sit very often, maybe once every month or two on average.

Floating means that you aren't at your normally assigned floor. Say you normally work med/surg and they have a low census and don't need you there. They might "float" you to oncology instead or wherever you are needed.