2nd day and I already want to cry!

[newflgrad]

Long Post, Sorry, but I can use some encouragement! If you have the time!

Some of you have been reading my posts and answering me through this new chapter in my life and I want to thank you. I wanted to share how my first 2 days in my Peds Home Health went. First all I will give you the run down so you can encourage me or discourage me I am hopeing this is not a "typical" thing that has happened to me, but if so please tell me and I can be prepared for this. I am a new grad as of last summer and went straight into med/surg and got quickly burned out! Home Health has always appealed to me on many levels but one that I can bond with a patient and give them my ALL and not bits and pieces of me! So after going on 3 interviews and all wanting to hire me I decided to go with the one that offered the most per hour and the best benefits, well this is a mom and pops place (which means not a big chain like Gentiva etc..) They never explained any paper work that I had to do and send in to them, they told me it would be on the table and If I had questions to call them.Well my first question of is this right, happened when she told me there would be no nurse on the case to orient me because they had all left because of a undiscovered DUI, and one of the nurses comeing in drunk for her shift (God help us!) and that I would have to get my orientation from mom. I thought no problem, families know thier kid best anyways. That went well, and on the first day I walked into some very unsanitary conditions! I thought, well I am here for the patient and education can be done as long as the child was not in immediate danger, The mom told me stories of the other children in the home (aren't hers) and how one of the smaller child has an STD, and I just was about to fall on the floor. I am not a nieve person and have dealt with almost anything in Med/Surg but this was just throwing me for a loop. Well today after the child's bath I washed her hair and discovered the child was Covered in head lice! I showed mom and after laying her bed today with her, and roleing on the floor with her, I suddenly became so sick! I have to girls to come home to and wondered if I had already infected my self and clothes! As nurses, we are prepared to handle everything thrown at us and a little thing like head lice shouldn't scare me, but it did! I told her I would have to leave early today and gave her instructions on how to handle the hair, room, couches, clothing, pillows...etc. Told her I would be back on Monday because I am sure she would have the problem tackled by then but to call me if she didn't. I may have been wrong in doing that, but I did that knowing I did not want to come back to this Unsanitary house. The child has CP and she is constantly coughing and being suctioned and both parents smoke constantly inside the home all day! I am a non-smoker so I was hateing that! Her suction yanker was always on the floor when I went in, with the dog laying on it, and other household things that would floor the seasoned home nurse, and when I tell you this, my house is a mess so I am not a clean freak at all!! Oh and while I was there today, someone was murdered just a couple of houses down. So my fellow peers, I am suppose to start orientation with a well Known Home Health Agency next week, can it get better than this? Or is it pretty much the same no matter where you go? I am hopeing I can learn to like Home Health the way I have it pictured it would be. Oh yes, and when I called the agency and told them about the unsanitary conditions and I could not work there do they have any other cases, they said not right now, but when they talked to me last week they had 23 cases~! HMM?LOL

[brown eyed girl]

I say report the agency since they overlooked what you told them and report the child's family to children's services b/c if the child is living in a filthy home and its always like that plus the child has a serious medical condition and the smoking is quite possibly making his/her respiratory issues worse it could be grounds for child endangerment; and if you don't report it, you could possibly be charged as an accessory for not reporting it and your license could be on the line. I have not worked in home health but I do have a child and I couldn't fathom living in a dirty, smoky house! Unless the child goes outside the house, which they most likely don't, it is obvious the child became contaminated with the lice d/t the unsanitary conditions and unsanitary family members. IF this wasn't your job and you seen this environmental situation elsewhere, WHAT WOULD YOU DO????? Take your first thought and do just that granted that it doesn't include violence. LEAVE THE AGENCY, THEY DEFINITELY DONT HAVE THEIR PATIENT'S OR EMPLOYEE'S BEST INTEREST AT HEART and if you are a REAL NURSE AND A GOOD ONE, YOU WILL BE YOUR PATIENT'S ADVOCATE!

[TexasPediRN]

I'm so sorry that your first few days in home health were this bad!!

I've been doing home health since September and recently started working in our office with insurance authorizations, supervisor visits, and taking clinical calls.

Home health is a big change for anyone. It involves working with a patient in not the best of conditions, and sometimes you need to make do.

HOWEVER- you had the right to have a nurse orient you to that case. If the nurse fell sick, car accident, or something that she was unable to make it, then another nurse should of been sent in or, with my company, the nursing supervisor would of been out there to orient you. You should never get orientation from a parent. If they tell you something wrong and you beleive it and/or follow it, and something goes wrong, it is your license on the line. I would of walked out of the home at that point.

And I'm sorry, but OMG to the smaller child having an STD. You owe it to your license and to that family to report them to Child protective services, ASAP. This does not sound like a safe enviroment for that child.

I know you took this job with the mom and pop company for the better benefits and better salary, but did you ever think why its better? Maybe they cant keep nurses so they try and recruit with bigger salaries.

You also have the right to say no to a case and to request off any case. Yes, if you request off too many it makes it very hard to staff you, but you do have the right if you do not feel safe in that environment to not go back there.

If you want to do home health after all this, try a better agency. Gentiva, Pediatric Services of America (which i am partial too..:).), or something else.

I promise you not all home health jobs are like this.

Meghan

[newflgrad]

Thank you for that! I am happy to hear from you guys, it makes me feel alot better to hear from peers and that can understand what I went through somewhat. I tell something like this to my family that has no idea and they are dumb founded. I have thought very honestly about reporting them to Children and Families but was worried, for what I don't know. It is a scary thing to put a family in the system, but they are pretty much there anyways, I have many questions about how and why and there could be good explanations but I don't have them.Why is it so scary? The mom adopted them (they are all from her family) and mom told me the younger girl got the STD from her mother while giving birth to her. It just raises alot of questions and makes you wonder what is going on. Thanks for the input and listening if anyone else has anything to share.

[quiltncatch]

I just wrote a big long post and then lost it!

The gist of it is....Make the call to CPS, I've had to do it and it isn't easy. I'll bet this family is already familiar to them, especially if they have adopted the kids of family members. Do it anonomously if you must, but do it anyway. They won't do anything for a dirty house, but if there is feces or maggots they will. Stress the danger to the health of the child with CP. A serious infection could kill her. You are her advocate. If you don't call, you will always wish you had......

As for the job!! They are terribly irresponsible and should also be reported and shut down. Go to the other agency. The one I work for is wonderful and I hope that's your experience in the future!

Natalie

[suzanne4, RN]

There are reasons that they are a mom and pop agency, using your words. Just because they offer the most, do you know if they are legally set up in the state to do this? Did you actually check them out or know someone that worked for them in the past?

With any type of nursing position, you alwyas need to check out the employer as well. And if they are telling you that the other nurses are no longer there because of drinking and a DUI, who are they even employing? I would collect your pay that you are owed, and run as fast as you can from them.

And you are required by law to report this to Child Protective Services. You were there in a nursing capacity that is being paid for by the state, and you have the legal responsibility to report it. If it is that bad, you can even consider contacting the police in the area, to get her immediate help.

This is shameful for a child to be treated like that.

That agency also needs to be put out of business............and I use the word "agency" very loosely.

[newflgrad]

Thank you all for that. Yes I have been considering my oath I took very seriously. I am required by law I guess I was just have trouble with "what constitutes abuse" or neglect really. No there were no maggots, no, there wasn't feces anywhere. It was just a house I have not seen before in this state except one other time and it is just shocking. Knowing they have a lice problem they have clothes laying everywhere, on the floor, on the kitchen table, on the sinks, and when I got there you could feel the junk built up on the sheets she was laying on, couldn't see them because they were brown.:uhoh21: The doctors have this child heavily sedated for some reason, and that is my other concern. They child was asleep the entire time! Which is not the parents fault they are just doing what the doctor told them to do! Medication adjustments need to be done. I am going to call CPS today just let them know my concerns and let them figure out what constitutes negelect. If they walk in and just say this parent needs training hopefully they will just give it to her. And yes, I spoke to someone who went with this company and works for them for over a year and they loved them. I can't get in touch with them now because it was a bump into someone situation. Well, hopefully this new company can get me work fast because I am broke and out of work until then!

[suzanne4, RN]

They may not have maggots in there, but a Yankauer suction tip on the floor with the dog lying on it? And the sheets were once white, but are now brown? The state is paying for this child's care and they need to be aware of the conditions that this child and the others are living in.

STDs are treated with antibiotics. If this child was never treated, something again sounds quite fishy.

Just because this family adopted children from other relatives does not mean that they are equpped to care for them.

Please, please report this. It needs to be investigated.

Unfortunately, if it is not, and something does happen down the line, you could be included in it. You are listed as a licensed care giver for this child. And for you not to report it, then you could be included, and not a good thing.

[quiltncatch]

There's just a whole bunch o stuff that needs to be dealt with in that house! Not only would I call CPS and let them decide about the household stuff, I would call the doc and have a conversation with him/her too.The more people involved in this type of thing, the better. Too bad you don't have a supervisor backing you too.

Know that you have support from us though, and keep us posted.

Natalie

[Jo Dirt]

Please call CPS. Please.

[jillyk*rn]

hi,

i'm a long time peds nurse, and as hard as it may be to do, you have to report this:o . your obligation is the child (who obviously isn't being well cared for), not to mention the child with the std:uhoh3:.

being poor or in a bad neighborhood is no excuse for not caring for the kids:nono: . if they are overwhelmed, or don't know what to do, perhaps they can get parenting classes, and extra care for the child with cp.

in florida (i guess everywhere) it is our legal obligation to report.

as far as the agency...i might want to look elsewhere, where there is more training and more backup.

:icon_hug: good luck!!

[newflgrad]

Thank you everyone who responded with thier support and words or wisdom. I wanted to let everyone know I did report it and told the agency I was reporting it. There respones was.............Nothing. She just sat there and said, ok, well let's see if i have any other shifts for you to pick up. I was thinking you have got to be kidding! There is no way I will ever go back to them or reccomend them to any other nurse. I am with another agency, one that is well known now and I have orientation on Wed. They already sound great and want to give me the orientation that I deserve and should of had with the other one! I can't go into the home health until I have a 2nd TB test and have to wait one week between them both but they said I could work in a hospital setting until then so I can get a paycheck! That is nice since I am a single mom with no paycheck right now thinking did I make a mistake leaving the hospital for this? I pray to God it will get better and I can come to learn this Home Health thing! It sounds great from what I read on this forum! I will keep you posted. Thanks again!