How to make a PDN job appealing?

Specialties Private Duty

Published

I guess you could consider this a spin off on my post about private duty nursing for my 9 year old at school, but I'm wondering if people have thoughts on what makes a private duty assignment more or less desirable.

Are there things a parent could do that would make you either want to run away from an assignment, or work there as many days as you could?

Also, if you have an assignment you particularly enjoy, are you able to request it through the agency? Particularly if the parent is also requesting you?

Specializes in Private Duty Pediatrics.

Off-subject here a little, nursenmom3, but how is your son doing? Last I heard, he was in the hospital for surgery. ?

I hope he's doing well. ?

1 Votes
On 6/30/2019 at 11:51 AM, nursenmom3 said:

Do nurses choose jobs based on who is in the house?

I read the archives, and two things that stood out were someone who didn’t want to alone in the house with an adult male, and concerns about other kids.

My husband works nights so if we ever got daytime nursing there would be times when he was there, and we also use a Grandfather as a caregiver for my other kids. One of my kid’s home teachers through the school system is also male.

Our other kids are 9 and 12, and would also be in and out. When my kid with the medical needs isn’t in the house, then we let the 12 year old stay alone sometimes, or the two of them together. Is that even an option?

When I was going thru RN program I worked PDN on a PRN basis as an LVN. I did chose my cases based on who was in the home and the vibe I got. Hate to say it but there are some weirdos out there. I had no problem being in a home with only a male watching the other kids - but if I got a weird vibe or things just didn't seem right - I would work the one shift and tell the agency I would not work there again.

As far as other kids in the home - for me it depended on the ages. If they were young kids (elementary school age) and the parent asked if I could just watch them while they ran errands I would tell them no, I couldn't do that and didn't feel comfortable doing that. I probably wouldn't care if I was left with a teenager.

On 7/2/2019 at 10:12 PM, nursenmom3 said:

Sorry, but I keep reading the archives and coming up with new questions!

I just read a post where someone was complaining about parents providing medical care while the nurse is there. The complaint seemed to be a mixture of "it's boring and I feel useless" to "if I don't chart that I did anything, then the hours might get cut".

Does this apply when a parent is providing care intermittently? Does that bother nurses, or put hours at risk? Let's say, for example, that the nurse comes on and I leave for work, but a few hours later my husband, who works nights, comes home and wants to spend a few hours with our son before Dad goes to bed, and care gets handed back to the nurse. Is that something that bothers people, or do you think "great, I've got a couple hour break to read or whatever"? My son has a pretty strong preference for parental care, if a parent is available, and given that he hasn't been in our home that long that's actually a really wonderful thing we want to reinforce.

I don't have a problem with this. I just chart that my patient is doing xxx with family; or xxx care done by parent.

I only had one case where the mom did EVERYTHING medical and expected me to clean, laundry, food prep etc - worked a couple of shifts and realized that that was how mom operated and then told agency I would not work there again. I don't mind picking up toys my patient has played with while I am there, washing syringes/supplies after I have used them on the patient but don't ask me to wash a sink full of family dishes or be sure to fold the family laundry that is in the dryer before I leave - nope not happening.

1 Votes
On 7/5/2019 at 3:53 PM, nursenmom3 said:

For the bolded, I guess what I'm asking is what happens if I transport the nurse one way, away from their car, and then can't transport them back? For example, nurse is working until 5, at 2 kid spikes a fever and we decide to go to get it checked out and the hospital ends up keeping him overnight for IV antibiotics. How does the nurse get back to their car, if I'm not providing the transportation?

This has happened to me a couple of times - once the parents paid an uber to drive me back to the house to get my car, I have their teenage son drove me back to the house, my husband came to pick me up once - my client lives in the next city over so not a far drive and there has been a few times where the decision to go to ER was near end of my shift and the parents just said I should just leave the shift early. With any decision - it was never a big deal to work out.

I love it that you are asking all these questions and seem so willing to try and work with your nurses. Whatever nurse picks up your case will be a lucky one ?

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