Is this job raising red flags?

[Elana]

Hi there,

I have a background in Inpatient oncology. I would say 15% of my patients were on comfort care and a lot of them were headed there, though a lot of them were full codes. I loved the patient population and believe hospice nursing to be my calling. It was a year ago that I quit Oncology because I was working night shift which caused me to become very hormonally ill as did the stress of my patient load (one week I coded 4 patients- on a med surg floor). I felt like a crazy chicken with its head cut off. This eventually cause me some serious depression and I questioned whether nursing was for me. Long story short after quitting I went traveling abroad (did not work as a nurse) for 9 months. Coming back it is extremely important to me that I have a job with a good work life balance. I do not want to end up the way I did last time. The job is Home Hospice RN Case manager during days. Coming from inpatient I didn't know the right questions to ask about the company in the interview or really understand what a good case manager job looks like. They told me I would have 17-18 patients and will be on call once a week (except every third week). It is also salary. After researching it seems 17-18 patients is suicide (or am I missing something)? Can anyone offer up some advice? I am also in a nutrition program which I must dedicate 20 hrs a week to. The job offers a 5000 dollar sign on bonus and 3 weeks PTO your first year, and 8 paid holidays. They have not told me salary yet while they are checking my references. What do you think? Is the 5000 dollar sign on bonus and PTO all red herrings to a potentially unhealthy work life balance? 

Thanks!

[cardiacfreak, ADN]

Absolutely run!  17-18 patients is a lot.  You have to be very careful as salary paid.  I'm salary paid but I'm also the on call nurse and I average around 30-36 hours a week.  As a case manager you will be working 40 hrs a week not including IDG preparation. 

[RNBearColumbus, BSN]

Yup! Run! That case load is too high in my opinion. I have 16 on my case load and that feels overwhelming at times. Also, I tend to look suspiciously at any job offering a sign on bonus. In my experience, its a sign of an organization that has trouble keeping people around.