Planning route for the day

texas4 · Oct 17, 2017

I probably won't be of much help considering I live in such a small community, but I use apple maps. It maps the shortest distance, it gives me options whether I want to take a toll road or not, and it will alert me of any road construction/delays I might run into.

WeirdNurseKelly, BSN, RN · Oct 18, 2017

I did home health in a large city. Because of traffic I would start with the patient who lived the farthest away afrom me and worked my way back home. I would try to make it so that I didn't have to do much back tracking. For those patients whose homes I hadn't been to before I would map my day out the night before, even make my calls to set up my visit time the night before. Most times I could finagle with my patients a little bit saying hey I am going to be in the area at such and such time, is it ok to stop by at X time. Most of the time I got a good response. If not I would ask to come a half hour later than I had wanted to and it was ok. I used that half hour of time to grab a snack, find a place to go to the restroom, eat my lunch or catch up on my carthing. I was a case manager so I always had A TON of charting to do. I did have to back track at times for various reasons but I found mapping my day out the night before was very helpful. Things can change pretty quickly if an admit came my way. This would make it easier for me to change my schedule. It took me almost a year to get a good routine while working in home health. And I was a very green nurse, with around a year of experience, most of it was in ALF.

brigittte · Oct 19, 2017

I used to struggle with this too. I'm horrible at orientating and it took me a while to figure it out but now I just use Badger Maps. It saves me a so much time and headache from having to map out my whole road every day. I have all my patients and main routes saved in the app and then I can just add stops if I have new patients that I need to visit that day.

annefrisbe · Oct 23, 2017

Thanks brigitte and KellT. Do you guys also shift schedules during the week? If there is a possibility then it might be better to schedule appointments which are closer on the same day? I know this gets complex but somehow when I am pasing through a patient's house whom I am suppose to visit next day, I hope I could have the flexibility to better plan my weekly schedule based on locations.

caliotter3 · Oct 23, 2017

Most agencies allow the nurse to handle the schedule as they see fit, just as long as all necessary visits are completed when due. Very few agencies micromanage your schedule from the office, usually with no thought in mind as to what works best. That is the kind of agency probably best avoided if possible.

annefrisbe · Nov 3, 2017

Thanks. Caliotter what do you use for planning your week/day?

iSurvivor · Nov 7, 2017

Multi-Stop Route Planning and Optimization Tools - MapQuest

Free and easy to use

annefrisbe · Mar 1, 2018

Can others also tell their experiences?

Kaisu · Mar 5, 2018

Our agency uses Pointcare. There is an option that allows you to hold a button and it displays a Google Map of your visits for the day. I have to drive to the office to pick up admission packages, refresh my wound supplies, etc. I start at the office and work my way home. I usually drive about 120 miles a day, and love every minute of it.

Bsible · Dec 5, 2019

Any newer apps that will let you store PT info then just add to map for that specific day

LuisHH · Nov 9, 2020

I like to start furthest from home then make my way closer to home most of the time. I use an app called zigbuddy for my scheduling, routing and mapping. Best one I’ve tried so far

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zigbuddy/id1533879381

On 12/4/2019 at 6:54 PM, Bsible said:

Any newer apps that will let you store PT info then just add to map for that specific day

Zigbuddy only one I found that does that so far