New Grad in Home Health

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Any other new grads in home health?

My only experience was 2 years as a CNA and 7 years as a residential counselor in group homes. I graduated with a BSN a little over a year ago. I was lucky enough to be hired by my home health agency after I passed the boards, they only hire 1-2 new grads per year and no other agencies in my area hire new grads. My training lasted about 8 weeks.

My first weeks- month on my own I cried every single day. I was not prepared for the paperwork, every patient I had had new procedures/ wound treatments/ diseases that were new to me. I applied at a drug treatment facility and was offered a job but for some reason I turned it down.

For the next weeks- months I got a little better at dealing with the stress and paperwork and driving. I learned when to ask for help from my clinical managers. The nurses at my agency were divided into teams to try to decrease our number or re- hospitalizations and for some reason I was assigned to the high risk or "A" team. We have to call into a call conference each morning and choose amongst ourselves which admissions we want to take. Talking to the nurses each morning I got to know all of them and then a miracle happened- I met an LPN who still saves my ass every day. I talk to him multiple times a day every day. He has 30+ years of experience and I can't imagine doing this without him anymore. He comes with me to help me with things I've never seen/ done before and I do admissions for him and keep him at our quota (all our nurses do 30 visits a week) We end up sharing most of our patients and I don't feel nearly as alone.

I wishI had done med surg for a few years first but if you have the opportunity to go right into home health it is extremely rewarding in many ways and I really do love it. They also paid for me to get certified to administer chemotherapy/biotherapy at home and I am extremely grateful to get that experience and I am enjoying doing that as well.

I love home health and I don't see myself going anywhere anytime soon!

The only negative is the pay... any other new grads with similar experiences?

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Specializes in ER, Med-surg.

It's so good to hear a new grad success story for home health! Congrats! You give me hope. :)

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Hi I would like to ask you something. I have 3 home health travel assignment opportunities. I have 2 years as a Private Duty Nurse but it didnt involve paperwork. I am of course going to get more in depth details about the job but I think its a type of job where you see different clients each day like what youre stating. Ive never done this...do you think its a bad idea to accept any of these travel assignments? Congrats on your new job!!!!

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I'm so happy that you stuck it out and that you have a success story as a new grad! YAY!

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I joined Home Health and Wellness at a prestigious independent living group. I work mostly independently, but often coordinate with the other genuine nurses and my director. I have taken on more responsibility, such as monthly billing, more case management duties which I really like. I trusted my gut to go into this career instead of trying to get the hospital jobs all my colleagues focused on. It's really rewarding to know that I like going to work, despite work being work, and having this community. I had an orientation but I always ask questions if I'm unsure and am quick to learn and eager at that. It's prepping me to pursue graduate school. At first I was thinking about NP down the road, if not a PhD. Now I'm looking more towards Clinical Nurse Specialist, Public Health, Education, etc. How has your experience been lately? I hope it is positive as well, I've seen many forums talking new grads down about home health but I really think it depends on the situation. It was great to find that someone else followed this path and found it rewarding.

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May I ask what your pay is? As you said it's the only negative...... I've been in a hospital setting for 15 years and looking to get into home care:). Thank you.

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My pay was 30$ per visit for the first few months, then additional $ to case manage, I'm at 40$/visit Nurses who have hospital experience start out 40-45$ per visit. Nurses who have worked in a hospital say they make more in home health, hope that helps

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Hi nurseinstinct!

I'm now on the IV team, doing mostly chemo clients, it's stressful and I cover a huge territory but I LOVE IT! I'm still case managing for an LPN but am slowly giving that responsibilty up because we're getting so many chemo referrals. I have a lot of clients with pancreatic cancer now and we've been helping them bridge to hospice when they're ready which is challanging but very rewarding. I haven't even thought about grad school... I think I'd need at least 5 yrs experience doing this, probably because I spent 6.5 years in school and I'm just not ready yet!

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My pay was 30$ per visit for the first few months, then additional $ to case manage, I'm at 40$/visit Nurses who have hospital experience start out 40-45$ per visit. Nurses who have worked in a hospital say they make more in home health, hope that helps

Which area/state?

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Rhode Island

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I don't know RI's COL but in California (not Bay Area), a straight 6 visit/day earns me >101K plus visit type differentials, hourly and flat rate paid meetings and additional 3.6K for night call 1 week out of 5. (We only see patients after hours for retentive catheter patients so mostly phone calls)

Where I work 6/day average is busy but very doable with good time mgmt and strong grasp of all duties and resources.

The first year is very hard and quite a few don't make it, especially those who are burned out or have aging/health issues and looking for something easier to do. It's definitely worth putting life on hold and dedicating the first year to learning this field if you can tolerate the amount of charting, driving and being able to adjust to changing schedules throughout the day. We lost a very good nurse in part because she didn't tolerate changes in her schedule that she had set up the pm before. You've got to be a planner but a flexible planner.

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