New to home health care

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I will be starting a job as a agency nurse.Any tips,words of avice? I'm a new grad (graduated on May 2009)

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You can find lots of tips by doing some reading in the home health forum. Probably one of the best ones is to insure that you receive a thorough orientation to your job in general and specific case(s) in particular. Do not be shy about asking questions until you feel comfortable with your feet on the ground, or should I say on the floorboard of your car. Hope you find that you like hh.

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Yeah there is a lot of great advice here on this part of the forum,I'm reading a typical day for HH nurse,and I'm writing down notes-it sounds like the job of HH nurse doesnt differ much from a hospital job-except you are on your own and cant ask your fellow co-worker for an advice.I wrote down on a piece of paper skills the company expect their nurses to know-I'm planning to review those skills before I start my training-if I feel that this job is a danger to clients and myself I will resign.But at least I can try it out.I'm planning to carry couple of textbooks in the car;medical drug book,med-surg pocket book,nursing skills book,lab book,personal preceptor book for a reference.

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Are you going to be doing intermittent visits or extended care? Extended care has an easier learning curve as you are doing routine care for stable patients over, normally, an 8 hour shift. With intermittent visits you have to deal with productivity goals, thus time management goals, traveling from one place to another, and likely doing paperwork at home for however many patients you saw in one day. Much easier to start with extended care.

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Are you going to be doing intermittent visits or extended care? Extended care has an easier learning curve as you are doing routine care for stable patients over, normally, an 8 hour shift. With intermittent visits you have to deal with productivity goals, thus time management goals, traveling from one place to another, and likely doing paperwork at home for however many patients you saw in one day. Much easier to start with extended care.

I will be doing intermittent care I think,but I'm not 100% sure;they have pts on ventilator,blood draws,diabetics,trach,g-tube patients,with foley etc..

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If given the choice, suggest you opt for extended care as it will be easier to get used to in the beginning. You can always transition to intermittent visit work later on, if you desire. JMO

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