New grad in HH $20/visit no mileage.... is this right?

LavenderButterfly · Jul 12, 2012

When you say new grad are you an LVN or RN? Either way NO that isn't the norm and I'd NEVER accept a position at that rate. It's not worth it given the time spent driving, doing documentation, and the cost of your gas.

Home health does have it benefits. No coworkers, no boss on your back everyday, you get to make your own schedule, and it's worth the $$ when your census is high enough. The cons (in my opinion) I've already listed above.

As a new grad LVN I made $30 a visit with NO home health experience at the time. I did however have acute experience. Sometimes it can be beneficial to sign up with more than one agency. That way you'll have enough patients to make a decent income. However your current rate is unacceptable and is not the norm (at least in my exp. 5yrs)

I understand your eagerness to find a position after graduation. I'm also surprised that you were hired as a new grad. A year of experience is a general requirement (and I think a Medicare mandate) Anywho I wish you the best of luck in whatever choices you make regarding the future of your career. I hope the info I have shared has helped you in some way. (it is ALL after all my experience and opinions. )

vn-rn · Jul 12, 2012

ADDITION.

Today I had 1 blood draw. I am to take specimen to LAB. LAB didn't accept it bec the tube was expired. EXPIRED? I had no clue! I wish somebody would have told me (or maybe If was trained/oriented better). I had to drive about 15mi one way, plus drive to the lab about 15 miles again to bring the specimen just to be told do it again! I texted my DON, told her what happened and I was told that I'm suppose to check the tube. I've done few blood draws already since I started HH I seriously had no clue test tubes has expiration date. ( my fault?) I guess.

If you are to tell a newgrad to do a procedure, should you tell her/him oh..uhm.. make sure you check your test tube if its expired. Or maybe you should include that in your 3-4 hrs of orientation since you know that there are some blood draws to be done?

I really don't want to show attitude, but when your almost working for free you just want to reason out and defend yourself. But no, I stayed quiet. I guess this is how I learn.. by doing a lot of mistakes since I am not trained properly. I just hope I won't have major mistakes that will jeopardize my license.

vn-rn · Jul 12, 2012

When you say new grad are you an LVN or RN? Either way NO that isn't the norm and I'd NEVER accept a position at that rate. It's not worth it given the time spent driving, doing documentation, and the cost of your gas.
Home health does have it benefits. No coworkers, no boss on your back everyday, you get to make your own schedule, and it's worth the $$ when your census is high enough. The cons (in my opinion) I've already listed above.
As a new grad LVN I made $30 a visit with NO home health experience at the time. I did however have acute experience. Sometimes it can be beneficial to sign up with more than one agency. That way you'll have enough patients to make a decent income. However your current rate is unacceptable and is not the norm (at least in my exp. 5yrs)
I understand your eagerness to find a position after graduation. I'm also surprised that you were hired as a new grad. A year of experience is a general requirement (and I think a Medicare mandate) Anywho I wish you the best of luck in whatever choices you make regarding the future of your career. I hope the info I have shared has helped you in some way. (it is ALL after all my experience and opinions. )

Good point. thank you for sharing your thoughts and opinion.

caliotter3 · Jul 12, 2012

In a nutshell, $20 a visit with no mileage is too low even for a new grad LVN. Since you have to pay for childcare, I would look for a more substantial job. Do not try to convince yourself that these people will provide a good reference anywhere down the line. If there was a chance of that, you would be getting the minimum pay for the type of work you are doing.

RobynLL · Jul 12, 2012

NO! I work Home Health. I am a brand new RN, I took my boards TODAY. Gosh, I hope I passed! I live in Seattle and I know that cost of living is less than down where you are, I used to live down there.

As an LPN, I made $30.00 per visit doing home health and they pay 48 cents PER MILE. That was per diem. As a staff person, I'm not sure what an RN makes.

IVRUS, BSN, RN · Jul 12, 2012

Seriously as a new LPN, or RN, I do NOT think that you should have accepted this position, despite your need to be employed. First of all, you need a good backing of med-surg nursing under your belt before you are autonomous. You are jeopardizing your license and patient outcomes are likely to be poor, like in the case already sited. Working home health is grand if you are equipt with the knowledge and insights which come with experience. Some may argue this point, but I believe that patients suffer in this case. You are out there in their home and are the eyes, ears, and their lifeline to health. Are you prepared to tackle that, when something simple like not knowing to use a blood collection tube if it had expired, didn't occur to you? I don't mean to be harsh, but just because you have an RN after your name, don't let the agency take unfair advantage of you because they are DESPERATE.

merlee · Jul 12, 2012

I won't argue whether this is a job for a new nurse. But the pay is ridiculous, and no mileage?? NO, NO, NOOOO! Keep looking! And yes, the tubes have expiration dates, and never leave them in a very hot car.

And your orientation was totally inadequate. Did you do any wound care? Or maybe your agency doesn't do wound care.

Admissions? Discharges? Transfers??

Oy.

Best wishes!

MN-Nurse, ASN, RN · Jul 12, 2012

I wouldn't take that job, but in any job you have to make sure everything that has an expiration date hasn't passed it.

NCIANurse · Jul 20, 2012

wayyyy too low of pay to deal with this! I am hourly, get paid more than $20/hr, and get 55 cents per mile. This is the norm for my state.

bubblejet50 · Jul 27, 2012

As a lpn in home health I made $18/hr with no mileage. I drive 30 miles one way but work 10 hours with one client. When I got my RN licence it was bumped up to $20/hr. I had no experience in home health. I did have a year of LTC experience as a lpn.

bettylove · Jul 28, 2012

I live in Orange,CA. Got my license on May, been on the job hunt for 3 months with no glimpse of luck! Finally got hired in HH. Which is weird because I wasn't even interviewed. I was called calling one day and I bump into this small agency. Lady said come-over we need per diem bring you credentials. So I went in and handed over resume and other credentials. They gave me papers works to sign right away, and with some assessment exam.. TO TAKE HOME. After a day or two I went back to the office to hand all the paper works back. The "care coordinator" said to wait for the call. The following 24 hrs I got call for orientation. Everything happened too fast. I was a bit overwhelmed yet happy excited that I finally got a job. So,.. about 3-4 hrs of orientation. The DON just kind of explained the charting and a little bit of stuff. (imagine how much of stuff you can cover in 3-4hrs orienting 3 new grads) They required as to follow a nurse before taking patients. So the next day I followed a nurse who was leaving. She seen 2 patients both for blood draw. I did the 2nd draw for her. Then after that.. the next day, I was by myself.
So I am perdiem and I see about 2-3 pts/day but not everyday. $20/visit NO MILEAGE. sometimes I have 3 pts for the whole week and thats about it. I drive up to 20miles for one pt. Sitting in traffic in a hot summer weather.. you have to use AC! I don't want to smell sweat when I'm taking pts VS.
There is A LOT of driving, and in the most part, its the one that pulling me down. I love the aspect of HH because I love patient teaching above all. But I am starting to loose hope about this. My first paycheck was $20 for 3 days of driving. I have daycare. I wanted to cry looking at my paycheck. I don't think it even close to reimbursing myself for the gas and mileage that I spent seeing those patients.
I've been in HH for exactly one month now. Im really hoping I could last a month more. My DON mentioned we will get $5 raise after 3 months which will make it $25/visit.
Sorry for the long post. I just had to vent somehow.
So my questions.. would any of you take $20/visit NO MILEAGE reimbursement? If you a new grad? I know that the economy is not at its best but I really feel like Im spending way too much time on this and I don't even break even with all the work I have to do. Not to mention the documentation part which is making stay up late at night trying to figure out what to write on my nurses note because I want to make sure I'm safe and I covered every detail.
From the bottom of my heart.. thank you for reading my post.
And I really appreciate some feedback.. and maybe some encouragement..
(sorry for any typo, I dont have time to proofread such long post)
Im not an original English speaker BTW

Ohhh im so sorry for you HH is not easy and there are many agencies I'm an LVN here in LA CA and I get paid $30 visit but yeah no mileage I know for a fact RNs get paid over $40 visit on the low side and more depending if it's recert or d/c or new admission. So keep looking that company is taking advantage of you there are some company's like that out there but some are good just keep looking I know they are paying less now because of Medicare cuts but not that low they just want to keep most of the money for themselves.........