It sounds amazing!

[nuwbee25]

I had an interview today with a Home health angency that specializes in psychiatric visits while still addressing the medical needs of pts as well.....the salary is $1100 dollars a week in order to be considered full time you must do 37 visits a week. The office was clean, friendly atmosphere with the nicest clinical managers! Also health and dental benefits along with 25 days PTO a year.....I am waiting to hear back from an interview for a school nurse position this coming week and I also have an interview Monday for another school nurse position. I think both types of position seem good in their own way....I am just unsure if I will get tried of driving around especially in the winter and It would be great to have summers off but I know for sure I will not have that kind of pay nor that kind of flexibilty....what am I to do???

PS both interviews went great.....not sure how Monday will go!

[KateRN1]

37 visits per week is an awful lot, especially with a psych caseload, so I would be careful of that one. Average is 25-30 for regular medical cases, psych cases should be fewer. And $57k isn't such a great salary for that many visits. Try to talk to some of their current/former employees if at all possible.

[nuwbee25]

Hmmm thank you for replying! Why would you say a psych case loads should be fewer? It seems as though medical cases would take longer for dressing changes, finger sticks, lab work......I guess it seemed to me that the psych cases were usually just taking vital signs and setting up medications and that is was a lot more case management. The clinical manager also said that most of the RNs are finished by Wednesday. I saw a few of the staff walk in and out of the office, all seeming happy, by no means did anyone appear over worked haha!

I did not have a chance to speak with anyone of them directly. I plan on calling on Monday just to ask a few more questions...do you recommend any questions for me to ask that may help me determine if that is an unfair workload?

Also one of the schools I interviewed for was a year round school with only a couple of weeks off for the summer.....thank you for your input!

[KateRN1]

In my experience, the psych nurses that I've worked with have had several years of inpatient psych experience and have been certified psych nurses. They do much more than vital signs and med set-ups, as they still have to meet the "skilled need" aspect for Medicare reimbursement. They work with patients who have active psych diagnoses, such as depression, suicidal ideation, personality disorders, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, etc. They work on setting goals, getting patients to actively participate in their own care, therapeutic communication, etc. This type of work can be very emotionally draining when you have patients who are constantly attempting to manipulate you and often their visits take longer than the average medical patient, so their case loads are smaller.

[tewdles, RN]

Psych nursing visits in home care can not only be time consuming and emotionally draining, they can also have risk associated with them.

Think of it this way...you are visiting a mentally ill patient who is not taking his/her meds regularly and is experiencing auditory hallucenations. H/She is becoming increasingly paranoid and defensive. In the home care environment you are visiting this person in his/her home. You will have no support present. The home may be in a rural or secluded place.

If you pull out your computer and try to document during the visit, you may precipitate a significant level of paranoia, so the visits take longer. Most psych home care visits I did were far, far from simple in and out visits. Some of them were just down right scary and I am glad to be out of it, personally. The lady having visions of severed heads and bloody rooms convinced me that I did not want to provide this type of care in people's homes.

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

Yes that is a lot of visits per week...is the nurse only there for 10 min a visit???

[nuwbee25]

Wow...those are some important things to take into consideration. I guess the way the clinical mangers made it seem were as though these patients were pretty stable mentally but that they did need assistance with certain things. I am aware of the danger that home visits can create but that would not hinder me from doing that kind of job. I would just like potential employers to be honest, and it stinks not knowing the truth until you actually start working at a certain place.

[elkpark]

Have you ever heard the old expression about how, if something seems to good to be true, it probably is??

I would not encourage anyone to take a psych home health position without some previous solid inpatient psych experience -- is that something you have? (I only ask because it doesn't sound like it from the comments you've made.)

[nuwbee25]

I unfortunately at this time cannot be that picky with job opportunites due to the gridlock on jobs where I am. I have been working for the last year on a surgical intermediate floor which was extremely intense. We did have some patients wtith psych issues, (restraints, suicide precautions, etc) but I would not say I had psych experience in the sense you are talking about. I guess after reading what people have said 37 visits does seem to be a lot so it seems its not so good to be true after all haha! Bottom line is I have always been interested in psych nursing and bills do need to be paid around here! I will be calling the company tommorow with some additional questions. Thank you all for your input!!!

[caliotter3]

Good luck with this. While it does not seem to be my cup of tea, it is a job.

[tewdles, RN]

Hey sorry to discourage you...not usually my style. I would suggest that you talk with the NM and let her know that 35+ psych visits per week will be too many for you right out of the box...and try to negotiate something a bit more manageable.

Lord knows that these poor people in the community need good mental health professionals helping them...I hope that you are happy and successful in the job!

[ItsTheDude]

if the school nurse jobs are for public schools, that's the way to go, great benefits and days off with state employment.