Is it just my agency?

[nurse.j., ASN, BSN, MSN]

I've been doing HH now since March of this year with a smaller company and working as a RN case manager. I do mostly admits and RN visits but do quite a bit of reg visits too. I see sometimes up to 7-8 patients a day. I'm very efficient at charting and most days it's easier for me to do some documentation in the home and finish the rest at the end of my day. I do enjoy the job itself, the patient interaction, the flexibility and all the other reasons everyone loves HH. However my agency is very unorganized. Supplies are a disaster all the time and trying to get them on time to patients...poor communication and management always seems to be flying by the seats of their pants. They don't train employees well and sometimes seem to do things that are a little shady. My territory has changed several times and some days when they have me help out in other areas, I'm spanning like 30+mi radius. It makes for a very long day. There's just a lot of things management could do to make everyone's jobs much easier and patients happy.

I'm leaving for maternity leave in 3 weeks and wanted to go back as PRN until my son is in school fulltime next Fall so I'll only have to worry about childcare for my baby (we all know expensive daycare is). I'm trying to decide if I want to go back to my agency or if I should give another agency a try as the same problems that have been there will most likely still be there. I am slightly concerned about charting after work and the time it does take away from my family some nights. But I am not required to have my phone on after 5, so I guess that's when I have to have the discipline to chart before I go home and turn my phone off at end of the day. I have thought about leaving HH all together but the flexibility for when my son is in school and I go back to fulltime, you just can't beat. Any thoughts or encouragement is greatly appreciated! I do not want to job hop and don't want to be naive to think that other agencies don't have their issues too. I do have the opportunity to go back to the hospital, to a similar unit but different hospital if I should choose (my friend is the manager there) But then at the same time, I left the hospital originally for a reason and I don't want to think going back (different hospital) will be much different either. Thank you for reading :)

[caliotter3]

Since you mentioned that you are able to turn off your phone at 5 pm, I think that you would be able to manage curtailing your job to just the hours that you want. It just might take a little time for them to realize that you are not as "flexible" as before. That way you won't leave the job sooner than you want to. If things get out of hand, you can just follow your Plan B or Plan C with the thought that you gave it an honest try.

[Idaho_nurse]

ONLY 30+ miles? I have clocked 200 in a day and saw 6 clients, lol... as for the disorganization, its not like that everywhere, but yes there is always some everywhere. If you generally enjoy your job, I would stick with it, and make sure they understand where your priorities lie. If they want to keep you, then yes they will adjust, but if not, then go somewhere else. As a HH nurse, your lucky you get to turn your phone off at 5. we work alot of call, as our agency is staffed by skilled nursing 24/7 and have to meet a quota per week, but the point is, that kind of schedule is hard to find, and its not worth throwing away if its something you enjoy.

[nurse.j., ASN, BSN, MSN]

ONLY 30+ miles? I have clocked 200 in a day and saw 6 clients, lol... as for the disorganization, its not like that everywhere, but yes there is always some everywhere. If you generally enjoy your job, I would stick with it, and make sure they understand where your priorities lie. If they want to keep you, then yes they will adjust, but if not, then go somewhere else. As a HH nurse, your lucky you get to turn your phone off at 5. we work alot of call, as our agency is staffed by skilled nursing 24/7 and have to meet a quota per week, but the point is, that kind of schedule is hard to find, and its not worth throwing away if its something you enjoy.

I decided I'm going to stay with my agency when I return from maternity leave and see how it goes. I want to at least make it to my 1 year (mid March) before I make any decisions about checking other agencies out/jobs. HH is something I really enjoy and the flexibility you just can't beat.