New grad Home Health - please advise!

Specialties Home Health

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I am a new grad RN who is hired by home health agency PRN. They did not give me decent orientation and no training. They want me to do complete needs assessments on their patients (stable elderly clients).

Should I accept this offer or would I be risking my license here. They showed me needs assessment paperwork that previous RNs have done. I also have to complete paperwork for caregivers as a supervisor.

Please advise what should I do?

I would really appreciate it... I am trying to read posts that have been posted here previosly...

Without knowing more of your job description it's hard to answer this. As the Nursing Supervisor of a Home Health Agency I can say we have a policy not to hire nurses for field staff unless they have at least one year of nursing experience. I have a higher standard when hiring nurses who do Supervisory visits and nursing assessments. Although not mandatory, I do try to hire nurses who have previous Home Health and supervisory experience.

One thing you should always do is to listen to that little voice inside and watch for the 'red flags' as you begin your nursing journey. It is usually correct. You said it in your second sentence. "They did not give me decent orientation and no training." That should be enough to run to the door. You don't want to some day look back and say I should have listened to those warnings.

Kyasi

How you feel about the job will make the decision for you. Do you have other job prospects? Does not sound as if you are enthusiastic about this one.

Thank you so much guys for your input.

I told them that I cannot work for them, because I did not feel comfortable and did not want to risk my license. There was no orientation and training. All they wanted me to complete needs assessment paperwork and caregiver supervision form. No other information about doctor's orders was given to me. There was no RN supervisor in this company that I could call and ask my questions. Also they did not want to reimburse me for the mileage.

I got another job offer for RN (state psych facility) and accepted that. Lets see....

Good luck to you. Let us know how you make out. Sounds like a wise move to me!

Kyasi

My instructors always said to listen to your gut. Sounds like you made the right decision.

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