Looking for guidance from a few HH vets.

Specialties Home Health

Published

Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.

I am moving forward with my efforts to secure a position outside of the hospital setting. I think home healthcare will provide me with the stable employment I desire. After doing my research to see if it is wise of me to give it a try, I have come to the conclusion that not only is it wise, but necessary.

What I would love to know is:

What do you know now that you wish you had known going into HH care?

I wish I had known that my BSN education would prove worthless in home health and I wish I had known that I could expect to be unemployed for months at a time and have my "employers" lie outright to the unemployment department to prevent me from drawing unemployment benefits. I also wish I knew that I could expect the kind of treatment I received when I was assaulted and terrorized by "clients" of my home health employer. I think that is enough.

Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.
I wish I had known that my BSN education would prove worthless in home health and I wish I had known that I could expect to be unemployed for months at a time and have my "employers" lie outright to the unemployment department to prevent me from drawing unemployment benefits. I also wish I knew that I could expect the kind of treatment I received when I was assaulted and terrorized by "clients" of my home health employer. I think that is enough.

:crying2:

Really? Not working for months at a time? Oh, thats not good. And here I thought HH was more stable than hospitals.

Specializes in LTC/hospital, home health (VNA).

Shift work or private duty is very different from HH visits - more stable with visits. I work with a VNA doing visits and I am salary - whether its 30 or 50 hrs a week. Usually right at or under 40 though. If you case manage what you need to know is - it takes a while to learn and manage everything..you do bring alot home with you. You will get quicker with time and practice so don't think you'll be quick and thorough for awhile. Thats the biggest thing that one needs to know - if you cannot manage your time and be efficient - you will drown!! One downside is on-call...alot depends on how your agency does it - better than working every other weekend though. Learning how to adapt from a sterile environment where resources are plenty to the reality of a patient's home is important - we cannot invade a patient's home and demand they do things our way...it is their home! There are pros and cons to any job - but if you are competent in your assessment, hands-on and teaching skills then you cant beat the flexibililty and autonomy this job offers you. Good luck to you.

Specializes in COS-C, Risk Management.

There is a six month learning curve for experienced nurses. It doesn't matter where you come from or how much you know, home health is a different beast. You must learn an entirely new concept of nursing. For the first six months, it can take over your life and you will feel that you don't know anything, but on the downhill side of that curve, you will look back and wonder what was so hard.

Be prepared to have very little orientation and to learn much on your own. If you are doing Medicare home health (intermittent visits), you can learn a wealth of information from the cms.gov website.

You may be surprised to find yourself lonely in home care and missing the cameraderie of hospital/facility nursing. But the flip side of that is that you never have to spend 12 hours with someone you despise.

Mileage is a killer. With gas at $3/gallon and more, you really need to have a fuel-efficient vehicle.

There's lots more. Read this forum and you will find many pros and cons.

I agree wholeheartedly with the last 2 posts!

The key to homecare is organization.

Try to keep your route in an orderly fashion so you are not retracing your steps all day! (hopefully your agency offers mileage reimbursement)

My agency pays per visit. So, paychecks vary each time, and sometimes there are not enough visits.

Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.
I agree wholeheartedly with the last 2 posts!

The key to homecare is organization.

Try to keep your route in an orderly fashion so you are not retracing your steps all day! (hopefully your agency offers mileage reimbursement)

My agency pays per visit. So, paychecks vary each time, and sometimes there are not enough visits.

See, I figured once you were in the door, you'd pretty much be full time. I was given the impression getting enough visits wasn't the problem, it was getting them done in a way that didn't lead to you doing hours of paperwork at home off the clock.

I can put up with doing a little work at home until I am past the learning curve. Having to beg for hours I won't though.

Specializes in COS-C, Risk Management.

If you need full time with benefits, best to make sure that you secure a full time salaried position, rather than a prn visit-rate-only position. Don't accept a position that doesn't give you what you need and then wonder why it's not working for you.

Be ready to work 24/7. Get ready to be abused. The flexability is great. Other than that, it is awful.

Sorry. I hope I am not being harsh. I just wish someone had told me the harsh reality. I love being a nurse, but at least at the hospital, your shift is done when you leave...........

I agree that the advantage of hospital nursing is you are done when your done. There are also advantages of homecare. Some of the advantages of home care are; you can, at times, set your own schedule, for example; when I have a parent teacher conference for my child, I am able to schedule my day around it. I am not working every other weekend, I work 1 weekend a month. I am on-call aprox 1-2 a month. (where I sometimes have a visit and sometimes don't, but get paid a small amount for being on-call). It is also possible, with planning, to see all of your pt's during the time your kids are in school, and be home when they get home (this is not always possible, but can be arranged)

Specializes in LTC/hospital, home health (VNA).

I, for one, definitely do not work 24/7. The closest I come to that is doing on-call every 5-6 weekends. If you get yourself into a habit of charting in the home, and finding a quiet place (library, car, coffee shop, back of restaurant in afternoon, etc....) to finish your OASIS charting...you bring little to nothing home. I see 5-8 patients a day and by being efficient and organized truly bring little home. I go to office first thing in morning and then get my visits done. By 4-430, I am done with EVERYTHING 99% of the time. But, it took me a good 6-8 months to get there. It is very frustrating until you get into your "groove".

+ Add a Comment