New home health nurse here...seeking advice

corky1272RN · Apr 4, 2009

i loved being in hh when i was an lvn but as soon as i became an rn i had to start doing admissions. admissions take so long but i was fee for svc so that made a difference. wound care for me became an art, i know that sounds silly but i learned a lot about wnds. i loved the fact that i could sit down for a few extra min with the pt if i wanted. the reason i quit was because the census was down and i got no visits. make sure you ask what happens if the census goes down. whether or not you made the right decision depends on various factors such as the company , benefits, compensation, mileage, etc. i hope you do well.

:yeah:

muffin7 · Apr 6, 2009

Hi Jordangirl,

How do you like HH? The job market is so tight out there and I have been thinking HH for sometime now. I have 2.5 years experience in the OR.

bebop1 · Apr 7, 2009

Home health is wonderful. But you have to be ready for a lot of paperwork...if you are a RN. OASIS!!!! a lot of paperwork. But you get to become a "part of the family" a lot. you get to know your patients. You can walk into a patients home, say hello and know right away if something is wrong. I have worked in home health for 4.5 years. and loved every min of it. And then maybe you have only 5 visits that day, I could go to the store between visits, go to lunch..etc...it was wonderful. But yes....as mentioned before look into what they are saying..I was perdiem at my new home health. I was at one time 30-40 visits a week...and then all the suddent they told me they could not give me up 7 visits a week. This was for a Huge nation wide company that I no longer work for. I did not like this company. I used to work in Louisiana for a wonderful company and that was the best. I will never regret working home health, and know I will go back once this "economy" changes. Really the only place it has hurt has been home health so far. ....anyways...Home health is GREAT!!!!!

enjoy! I am jealous! I work in LTC, and doing Wound care also, I am happy but my heart still lies in home health!

JordanGirl143 · Apr 7, 2009

I heard about the paperwork! Is it really that bad? More worse than the hospital? Tell me more! I'm gonna work for an agency that is part of a hospital. I'll be getting paid per hour instead of per visit. They tell me I will be seeing 5 patients a day. Is that how your other job was?

muffin7 · Apr 7, 2009

Bebop- I noticed you said you would go back to HH when the economy changes. How is the economy affecting HH.

I'm applying to several HH agencys. Can you tell me if it better to get paid per visit or per hour? Any other tips anyone could give would be appreciated.

bebop1 · Apr 8, 2009

Well the economy is "changing" home health in ways like, patients are more and more being taken care of by family members, and not by nurses. Or a lot of the insurances do not approve home health, or even LTC for patients to help. The home health company it self cuts back on nurses, goes more with the benifited people, than what I was the per diem because i was paid a lot more. I was paid per visit. I made a lot of money, because I could see a lot more people a week, and get paid for each visit, than get paid by the hour. Even where I am now LTC is hurting. insurance is cutting back and not even letting residents stay who need to be there.

The paperwork. let me say, the OASIS is about 14 pages long. yes..... it is hard...at first. I do say my first month or two I would spend 1.5 to 2 hours on an "packet" as we would call them. but then you get them, you know the questions, you know how to ask them, you know where to mark them. You do oasis for mainly medicare, some insurance. a different smaller one for medicaide and other insurances..... you do these packets on Admit, recertifications (every 60 days) and anytime the patient is admitted to hospital and then you resume care again in home. At first admits would sometimes take me 2 hours. but you then get into a routine. you get into a conversation, you get into a "groove" if you will to get just about all your questions answered that are in your 14 pages of questions within 10 mins of your visit. maybe the longest part of your admit will be writing down all their medications they are on. Of course admits are the longest visits...a lot of questions. But if you cannot tell I am very passionate about home healt. I love it...I am not in it any longer, and I miss it. I am very happy where I am, but My "True love" is home health. It just doen't work out for me at this time.

please let me know if you have any other questions!!!! :yeah:

muffin7 · Apr 8, 2009

Bebop-Thanks for all of the info. It sounds like you really enjoyed HH. I have an interview this Mon with a HH agency. I have never done HH and am a little apprehensive about going into people's homes that I don't know. I'm sure I will get over it.

I have 2.5 yrs exp in OR and being so specialized with such a tight job market it has been hard to find a job outside of OR (I really don't want OR). You have hundreds applying for 25 positions. I am basically a new grad and am glad that these HH agencys are interviewing me. I had an interview for a surg/tele and the person that interviewed me was so rude, I almost said, "thank you" and walked out. He was telling me how lucky I was to even get an interview ( what a jerk). I think he had "the little man's syndrome. I found out yesterday that I did not get the job and frankly I was wondering what I would do if I did get the offer (even in this job market).

I really want to give HH a shot expecially with summer coming up and having to two children (ages 9 and 12). I need the flexibility, I think it will be a real plus. I also think that I will get the experience I need to go back and apply at diff. hosps if I want to. What do you think, would HH exp be benefcial.

Have you ever done Camp Nursing or know of anyone who has?

riern · Apr 10, 2009

Home health is one of those either you really like it or you hate it kindda jobs. You'll be going into homes of all types..some that will leave you wondering how people live that way. You will find that some patients almost become a part of your family. My husband and I helped one of my patients get a handicapped ramp and took him Thanksgiving dinner. There have been times I've bought groceries or gotten meds for some of my patients. That being said, you have to get to the point where you realize everyone can't be saved and some of them really don't want to live any differently.

Paperwork/computer work is a booger! Sometimes it does feel like more than the hospital. I worked L&D and never thought anything could have more paperwork than we had to do for a delivery. The flexibility is one of the perks but remember, you are on the clock until 5pm(may need to clarify that with your manager) so if you're home with the kids and one of your patients needs a PRN visit before 4pm you may be required to take care of it. Home health is no longer one of the areas where you can see your patients, go home and be done. At least not around here anyways. Good LUCK!

muffin7 · Apr 11, 2009

Riern, Bebop, etc

Can you tell me about how long the paperwork will take to do in the beginning (start of HH career). From what I understand a "new admit" takes longer than say a general visit.

Do you think being paid per hour or visit is better? I am applying for a HH position (this Mon) and they pay per visit. New admit $75.00, IV $55.00 and eg visit $45.00. It sounds like the paperwork is done on your own time. Do you know what the average pay is in So Cal? Thanks for your input.