Looking for advice...

[BrendaTXRN]

Just needing some input from other nurses.

Here's my situation... I am an RN and currently a full time stay at home mom. I have an opportunity to care for a 3 year old girl, in my own home, who has medical needs, but her care does not seem to be very time intensive. Her father needs someone to care for her overnight while he travels for his work, 1 to 3 days a week. I would watch her for 14 hours a night and probably drive her to and from her care facility. I'm not sure what to charge him if I take the job. He said his company was willing to pay $100 a night and he would add extra for transportation. It seemed too low to me, since I am also considering a one day a week shift somewhere else that pays me about $21 an hour. She does sleep a good 9 hours through the night ... but of course I am still responsible for her. I'm considering asking for $200 a night (including transportation), but I don't know if it'll be too steep for him.

I'm also unsure of what to do since I won't be covered under any insurance, since he is not going through an agency. I haven't worried much about insurance in the past since I've worked for hospitals or care facilities.

I would appreciate any input anyone may have.

I am new to this allnurses.com message board and I have really enjoyed reading some of the topics and comments made. I will definitely come back in the future!

[TexasPediRN]

Coming from a Peds Private Duty/Home Health Background- heres my 2 cents.

The risk of caring for this child in your own home is way to high. If something happens, you are liable. What happens if something happens to your child and your patient at the same time? Who would you help first?? Would you be staying up all night to watch over this child? What if something happened while you were attending to your own child, such as the pt falling out of bed? You could be held liable, since its your license on the line..

Out of curiousity, has this dad ever had a Private Duty Nursing Agency? Sometimes insurance will cover it for a medically fragile/special needs child, and if not, he can apply to Medicaid for PDN coverage.

This way, working with an agency - you have backup in case something goes wrong, and you arent caring for the child in your home, but hers.

Now I dont know her entire care needs, but thats just my 2 cents.

I'd be interested to hear what other nurses opinions are with your situation.

And last but not least, welcome to AllNurses! This is a wonderful board where you can get tons of information- I hope you enjoy it!

[BrendaTXRN]

Thanks for your input!

My husband would always be here while I would be caring for this child, so he could take care of our children when I had to attend to her. I know that the child typically sleeps through the night and is not mobile at all. She seems like a relatively easy child to care for... the father is going to get medicaid coverage for her soon, but those hours will pay for her day time care.

I'm thinking this may be too big a liability for me and could put my license in jeopardy if something happened. It's too bad because I really would like to help him out and it seems like a good situation for me and my family.