need advice for home health nursing

annaedRN, RN · May 16, 2008

Congrats on finishing your 1st year. My first bit of advice is concentrate on finishing school and NCLEX first. But that being said, I know how it is to dream about being a nurse and where you will work.

I love HH - it is definitely my calling. There is different types of nursing you can do in the home. HH is routinely doing visits throughout the day - different focused skills at each home ( IVs, catheters, wound care, blood work and LOTS of teaching). You need to have your assessment as well as skills sharp b/c you are the only eyes/hands there and need to perform as well as teach the family to care for their health needs. There is also private duty where you do "shifts" with a patient and provided ALL the needs from meds, treatments, ADLs, vents/trachs, and often even transporting to appts, etc.

There is more "say" in your schedule with private duty than with HH. HH is USUALLY M-F 8-4 but you have flexibility within your day (like going to a dr appt, picking up a few groceries, going home for lunch....) where with PD you can often give them your days/times of availability. Keep in mind that the more weekends/evenings you are available the more likely you are to get FT.

Each agency is different with pay and benefits. My VNA pay is comparable to the local hospital. We do not work weekends but take turns (every 5-6 weekends) being on call. Work about 2 holidays a year. We get paid mileage at the going IRS rate ( 50.5 cents a mile) but not every place does so.

I have done both types and both are very rewarding. I personally find HH more challenging and that you get to keep your skills more current - patients are usually more acute.

Hopefully that answers some of your questions. Good luck!!

caliotter3 · May 17, 2008

As with any employer, you need to shop around and compare benefit packages and wages. There can be a wide disparity or you will find that most agencies are comparable. As for work schedules, I think you will find that doing shift work with various agencies and clients will offer you the greatest flexibility. You are paid an hourly rate and can arrange shifts from four to sixteen hours a day over the week as you wish and as the agency has case work available. The good part about this is that you can often get a little leeway here and there with start and stop times so that you can take kids to school or pick them up. This is something that you usually work out with the client as well as the agency. Just let your agency know what kind of schedule you're looking for and go from there. Hope you like home health once you get started.

2ndtimetesttaker · Feb 20, 2009

Hello Ladies,

I needs some advice. I have been a nurse for two years, and have gone from the hospital setting to a private practice. IVF nursing. I find I miss real clinical work and that I have put myself at a disadvantage. I would like to go into home healthcare nursing as I think it would give me an opportunity to become a good practitioner. I dont know that my clinical skills are up to par and you hospital veterans certainly know more than I do. Is this a good idea? Can I have anyones thoughts?

Thank you!!

luvmy2angels · Feb 22, 2009

Hello Ladies,
I needs some advice. I have been a nurse for two years, and have gone from the hospital setting to a private practice. IVF nursing. I find I miss real clinical work and that I have put myself at a disadvantage. I would like to go into home healthcare nursing as I think it would give me an opportunity to become a good practitioner. I dont know that my clinical skills are up to par and you hospital veterans certainly know more than I do. Is this a good idea? Can I have anyones thoughts?
Thank you!!

First of all 2ndtimetesttaker....Please don't hijack someone's post, you already have your own started, that is just plain RUDE. :madface:

To the original poster.....

I love HH because i can start my day whenever i want. If the kids have a 1 or 2 hour delay in the morning i can just schedule my first visit for 11 that day. We are given a lot of freedom but with that we have a lot of responsibility. As long as our work is done in a timely manner and we account for our time out bosses pretty much leave us on our own. We have monthly meetings at the office to catch up on any new business.

Most places where i live want you to have at least 2 years of med/surge experience before going into hh. and believe me, you will want to have that experience too!! We are affiliated with a hospital but get paid much more than the hospital nurses do. Some HH places pay per visit and some pay per hour. We get paid per hour and offered bonus money if we work any days that we aren't scheduled for. In a typical 2 week pay i can get at least $400-500 in just bonus money, I LOVE IT!!! Good luck to you!!

NurseRoRo · Mar 4, 2009

I love my HH job but it did take some gettin' used to. I had to be very assertive with what my hours were going to be because I believe our agency sort of hazes the newbies in. (Like for instance I was told my hours were going to be 8-4 but I'd get paged or called at HOME at 7:20am to tell me I had to take extra visits when my day was already full).

I love being there to help families with whatever issue is at hand at the time (I work with chronic illness management). I love teaching, which is something I couldn't go in as much depth in the hospital because pts are quite stressed in there!

I did take a pay cut leaving the hospital. But the perks are great. I have a company car, they pay for my gas/insurance/maintenance. I drive it as my own personal car when not at work. I use the company cell phone as my personal cell, as well. The laptop is great but slow, so in a pinch I will use it for personal use. We also get the Sprint Air cards, so I can get online for patient charts or whatever, if I'm in the waiting room at my own doctor's appts.

I love the fact that I can schedule my day however I need to and if I work a few hours less today, I can make up for it tomorrow as long as my patients are cared for and no one is forgotten at the end of the day! I also love the fact that I am outside, in good or bad weather, and not stuck in a huge building with no windows!

We are on-call one week at a time, from 5p-8a. Sometimes we have visits or admissions after our work day is done, and sometimes, it's just the matter of holding the pager all night long with no one to call you. It's a crap shoot. We do holidays on rotation...