pediatric HH, please help

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I accepted a position as a pediatric HH nurse. It will be 4 shifts a week which I think is a lot, at the same child's home. I am freaking out since I have no peds or HH experience whatsoever, as I come from psych nursing. How do I prepare for this job? From what I understood the training is very limited to stuff like how to care for trach and g-tube. they are so eager to get me out there that I suspect the training will only be a few hours. It all feels rushed and I'm scared I will be sent out completely unprepared. My question is, is there any good book/videos out there to help me learn? please advise I am so lost!

Thanks. Changing specialties because i cant find a job in psych. There are very few psych hospitals in my area.

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Specializes in Psych, Peds, Education, Infection Control.
I will bet the rent the agency starts with M and ends with M. Run from this " assignment". No nurse and no pediatric patient should be put in this position.

The agency cares about NOTHING but money in THEIR pocket. You are jeopardizing your license working for these money- grabbing bozos.

^ Ha, you said exactly what I was thinking about the agency. I actually had a wonderful experience with them in one state, but when I moved to another and went to them to pick up peds homecare shifts, they were very much of the "do you have a nursing license and a pulse" and "don't worry, the family will help" (well, not if they take advantage of the nurse being there and go out for the day)... I had a patient code while I was in the home, and I did all I could and responded accordingly... They didn't care much about how I was dealing with it, just to make sure to ask what time I left the home (because my compensation ended there, even though I'd ridden along to the hospital, while helping the medics with CPR).

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Your agency sounds sketchy for one. The recruiter is just a recruiter and that's it. No clinical expertise. If you've spoke to the clinical manager of this client, they should do a very quick Dx and HX report to you over the phone, to give you something to work with. Then, them sending you out before knowing anything about the patient is suicide. Ped parents can be very over protective and very intrusive in your care to the child, regardless of your years of experience. So i would press the clinical Sup to give you a quick report over the phone, or better yet, like mentioned above, a 485 to look at. The 485 tells everything about the patient, and the MD's plan of care for the patient, meaning orders. Remember, you CANNOT do ANYTHING without a MD order. VS are the usual. but sometimes even getting a O2 saturation, you must have an order for. So clarify with your Clinical Sup why you are there, and that you need a 485. Keep us posted.

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Thanks so much. Is it common practice to send a nurse out to interview with the family before shes hired? They said meet the family first and if that goes well we will hire you and train you. I thought that was weird, as i would feel much more comfortable meeting with the family after being trained. They most likely will ask me things like, ate you familiar with g tubes? Do you have experience with tube feedings etc and i will have to say no

.

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Stick with your gut feelings. Remember, your license is YOUR license. The BON is no joke. I've heard they are very scary and you never want to be in their presence if you can help it. DO NOT take any assignment without proper hand off. Especially going into another persons home. Ask about how the family is and the character of the child AND parents as well. But it is very weird to send you out with no information on the patient. That's not common practice. Also, if you can, get the PCP name and number, the person who ordered the HH, to get a hx on the person as well. There cannot be HH without an ordering MD that has done a face-to-face. Without a face-to-face, the agency will NOT get paid. So there is a MD attached to that Face-to-face, and i would get that number. A face-to-face is a document that explains why the patient needs HH and that the MD has spoke to the patient/family about needing homehealth. You are currently a RN, and you wouldn't go into a room in psych without getting a DX or HX on a patient. No difference. But now you have added skills to the situation possibly. Keep us posted!

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An agency that says you have to be okayed by a client before they will even hire you is not an agency you want to deal with.

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So its not the way agencies are supposed to do things, I had a feeling its wrong. First you get hired, then trained, then sent out

To meet the family to see if you are a good fit. Right?

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You are right. Thank you! I will ask for those things if i dont run away from this agency first, based on the backwards way they are doing things.

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Specializes in Pedi.
So its not the way agencies are supposed to do things, I had a feeling its wrong. First you get hired, then trained, then sent out

To meet the family to see if you are a good fit. Right?

Well, they're not going to waste time training you if you aren't going to fill any hours. These agencies, like I said earlier, don't care to waste too much time on training. They'll hire you because you have a pulse and a nursing license. If you find a family that wants you to fill their hours, they'll offer you 1, maybe 2 shifts of training. Training may be with another nurse or may just be with the child's parents.

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Thats so sad that they operate that way. Im telling them im not interested in the position. I cant do it its way too much for me to handle with my lack of relevant background.

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