How does prn home health nursing work?

Specialties Home Health

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I have been a stay at home mom for the last year, but I'm thinking about getting into HH prn or part time once my daughter starts going to school. Can anyone give me information about how prn HH nursing works exactly? Do you get assigned a certain number of clients to see each week? Do you see the same clients over and over, or do you see different ones every week? Also, will they train you? I've never done HH nursing before so any information would be appreciated! One more thing...any HH nurses with experience with HH agencies in the Oklahoma City area?

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Usually people get trained.

You do not get a caseload unless you are at least a certain amount of hours part time or fulltime. The PRN nurses usually see patients that can't be seen by their case manager due to high volume or the need for extra visits. That means you need to be very flexible.

There is a lot of documentation and that is the biggest struggle for most nurses. You have to have very good assessment skills and critical thinking because it is just you, you work alone after orientation.

Pay is per visit. Make sure you get more payment when you do start of care, recerts, discharges or such.

Some agencies are not so nice and give the worst cases that nobody want to see to the prn nurses.

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Specializes in Hospice.

You don't mention whether you're an RN or LPN, but only RNs can do start of cares, recerts and discharges.

LPNs can do scheduled routine visits. Generally, you let the agency know when you are available, and they will give you some visits.

Since it's pay per visit, there is a temptation to do a butt ton of visits in a day. Reputable agencies will not allow this. It should be something like "We have 9 visits that need to be covered. Can you do 5 of them?"

The number of visits you do each week will fluctuate, since you will be helping to take care of the ones the RN can't do, for whatever reason.

If you are an RN, you may be asked to do a start. Personally, giving a PRN RN a recert or discharge is not a good idea, as you don't know the patients and there is a lot that goes into those visits.

Also, you need to go with one of the field RNs and do at least one start with them, so you actually know all the paperwork.

Please make sure you report back to the RNs, and let them know how the visits went.

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Patients. We still call them that here in NY. Haven't totally drank the Kool Aid yet.

I'm FFS ( fee for service/ per visit)

I must commit to 1 weekend a month. For me, that's usually 2 Saturdays. In fact, I mostly work Saturdays, since I have another job.

My CM is pretty cool with whatever I can give her. I stay mostly in my area.

Good luck!

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I am an RN. I've worked 11 years in the hospital in mother/baby. I'm just looking for an option where I can work a few days a week during the hours my daughter is in school. Does that sound feasible in HH?

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I am an RN. I've worked 11 years in the hospital in mother/baby. I'm just looking for an option where I can work a few days a week during the hours my daughter is in school. Does that sound feasible in HH?

Absolutely.

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I'm very excited about starting a new journey in nursing, but it's also very nerve-wracking! Thank you all for the comments. Any and all information is welcomed. :)

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Specializes in Hospice.
I am an RN. I've worked 11 years in the hospital in mother/baby. I'm just looking for an option where I can work a few days a week during the hours my daughter is in school. Does that sound feasible in HH?

Oh, yeah.

You do need solid assessment skills. Don't let them throw you out on your own after one day of "orientation". Remember, you won't have anyone you can grab and say "This looks really weird. Can you check it too??"

Also, some docs have a rather...casual...attitude when it comes to returning HH nursing calls. Learn how to be a pit bull.

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It might be hard to orient on a part time basis to all that HH entails with learning the regulations, documentation as well as treating an adult patient population with chronic illness and complex wound care. As well as finding an agency willing to invest adequate orientation time in a prn employee. Albeit it doesn't need to be as comprehensive as it is for a case mgr but it's still quite a lot and you won't want to be thrown out there unprepared.

As far as scheduling you may or may not see some repeat patients but more than likely you'll have a new slate every day (depending on how and how many your days are scheduled). You may get your schedule the evening before, to have it change in the morning which requires tolerance and flexibility.

It might go smoother if you work as much as you can until you're comfortable with all aspects as it's pretty hard to learn it all in a fragmented manner. (Not that there aren't exceptions).

If you live in an area with need, there might be a call for your specialty, ie high risk mother/baby follow up at home.

All that said, I love HH.

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My dream job would be mother/baby home health. I live in Oklahoma City so maybe I should look into that.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Can anyone give me information about how prn HH nursing works exactly?
Your thread has been moved to our Home Health Nursing forum. Good luck to you!
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So are you only required to work the 2 weekend days? Or is that being on call for a weekend a month on top of working other days?

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