I'm back!

Published

Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

Well, I'm back!  Back to allnurses after about a 3 year absence... And back to home health.  

 

I did home health for about 2 years about 7 years ago, then left, returned to it in 2020, left again, now I'm back for one more go at it. I've been at it four months this time and I'm already ready to quit again.  I'm already burned out. 

 

I'm a field case manager.  At last look I had about 45 patients to my name.  I keep getting 2-3 nurse evals or RN01 every day.  My LPN failed to get the NOMNC signed for a patient that is ready to discharge, she wants to monitor and educate the patient one more cert.  Why???  Patient is doing fine.  Granted we've only seen her for one cert period.  How long are we supposed to see a patient for monitoring and education if nothing is changing and the patient is fine??

 

Im one of only like, seven or eight full time field RNs/CMs for an office that serves a city/county of about 300,000 people, plus about ten counties surrounding. Our office staff doesnt do enough to help us. I missed a patient's recert a week ago.  Been asking for help getting this patient straightened up and back on service and not gotten the help.  

 

Was sick the other day.  Thought I might have COVID.  Called in.  Got tested.  Negative.  No one to cover my patients.  Explaine the situation to a patient's wife and got told off.  Theyd been waiting over a week for a nurse to come out. 

 

This job takes over your life.  This time I actually decided to embrace that fact.  I don't have much of a life anyway so why not???... It isn't working right now..... I feel like im never off.  Even on my weekends I feel like Im not off. 

 

 

2
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in retired LTC.

Welcome back & hugs to you for another rough go-at-it.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×

I've been at several agencies looking for somewhere that follows labor law. We need industry wide labor organizing - I see the same people jumping from agency to agency, and everyone short on staff. It wouldn't take much stress on the system to give a guild some serious clout.

It seems like admin is never concerned about giving field staff more work when we're paid per visit. In my state there have been court cases deciding that HH clinicians are Non-exempt; Even if we are paid per visit, they still need to pay overtime. LOL

The worst part is that HH could be a vital part of the health care system like Obama tried to sell us on. But to be that you'd need to attract the staff and pay them to do the work. Instead we're paid like it's our job to get visit notes signed and untangle medicare documentation like some sort of crossword puzzle. My Husband's an RN in a hospital where we're a CYA joke and doctors think we just check vital signs. cuz that's what lots of us do.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Travel, Home Health, Med-Surg.

Welcome back!

No argument from me that HH can be brutal. I have done it two different times as well and after the 2nd said no way ever again. So much more work/paperwork the 2nd time. Besides the paperwork, constant calls to MD, calls from pts/family, enormous increase in paperwork (don’t get me started LOL), another big difference I noticed was the acuity of pts being discharged from the hospital to home (very high acuity). 
 

Well, hope all works out for you!

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Home Health,Peds.

Home health would be so much easier to work if we did not have OASIS. I get anxiety just thinking about it. I left skied visits after a year, I couldn’t take the paperwork. 

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

Update. LOL.

Left HH again back in April and never going back... Not to a permanent position anyway.  I'm now a traveler and I will never rule out the possibility of doing a HH contract, but it would only be temporary of course, and the pay would have to be right. ?

Currently in a hospital. ?

 

 

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion