If new grads can't find jobs in hospitals...What about Home care ?

[Back2Nursing09]

Is it as difficult to get a job outside of the hospital ? What are the pros and cons of home care nursing ? This sounds much more relaxing than working at the hospital.

[Carrie_MTC]

I'm a new grad working home health and I like it but of course there are some disadvantages to this type of nursing like driving and paperwork is a big one but other than that it so much more relaxing than the hospital floor (I work ina hospital for two months!) Right now I have total of 6 patients so I would call it a part time gig since my agency is very careful about assigning patients to me,they are very aware of the fact that I'm a new nurse so they give me patients that are not very complex (by complex I mean g-tubes,trach) Usually my patients suffer from common chronic disease,many are either diabetic and hypertensive or both. I go in take their blood pressure,blood sugar asses their whole body system.Sometimes I change dressing.I'm also assessing for compliance with meds and then of course teach.I wish I had more experience so they would give me more patients.In future I'm planning to work both hospital and home health,if God willing.Try it out,it will make your resume look better!

Maybe that's why I'm having such a difficult time. My first case they started me on is a G-tube feed with about 20 medications and 800mL of fluid!!! They said it shouldn't take more than an hour, I'm there at least an hour and a half. With all that fluid it takes an hour just to do the feeding let alone crushing meds, mixing meds, and taking vitals. My second case is 2 complicated dressing changes, and the patient is on IV antibiotics. My first week on the job, a client started coughing up blood and I had to call an ambulance. So they are not even giving me stable patients. Sorry I had to vent, I'm stressed and only on week 3.

[caliotter3]

Less home health agencie hire new grads now that there are many more experienced nurses looking for work, so it is not quite the easy route to a job that it used to be.

[natchan23]

In my senior synthesis class a grad from June 2009 (when the job market was worse than it is now I heard) had an alumni panel come talk to us before graduation. One alum talked about how frustrated she was about not finding a job so did home healthcare while she waited to find a hospital job. She was upfront with them and they didn't mind that she wasn't planning on staying long. She loved home health though! She did eventually find a hospital job a few months later and she thinks it was better for her to get some sort of nursing experience under her belt vs. doing nothing.