Freebird

You have to find a system that works for you. I start the night before -getting my schedule, planning my route, & calling my pts to schedule visits. I plan my day by the hour -- giving each visit an approx time & allowing for drive time so I know what's possible to accomplish during the day. This is a rough plan and usually changes. You have to be flexible and try to include some time for the unexpected. As far as organizing my car, I keep a small plastic open file box on the passenger side floor with all the extra forms & notes I may need. Everything is filed in file folders alphabetically. In the passenger seat I keep another plastic file box for case management. All my pts info is filed alphabetically so if I'm on the phone & need something it's in easy reach & accessible -- (Nothing worse than when a doc asks you something and you can't get the info fast.) Sometimes the office staff misfiles forms and later comes at you with "You didn't do Mr Jones discharge summary or MOD!" It feels so good to go to my file, pull the copy, & say "Here's the copy I turned that in Friday." After the case is discharged then I shred anything not kept in the office file. In the trunk I keep 2 large plasitic containers - 1 clean & 1 dirty. Dirty of course has red box in red bag for needles and such. Clean box has all carstock supplies organized - I use a lot of ziplock bags to keep supplies in catagories like all gauze rolls together or lab stuff sorted. If supplies expire, I write the expiration date in black sharpee pen on the ziplock bag -- esp. helpful so I don't use an expired tube for blood. Hope this helps....... Everyone seems to have their own system. A friend of mine keeps an entirely diff system using a notebook and plastic chest of drawers for supplies. You just have to find what works for your style. Good luck!

Welcome to HH Nursing. I hope you love it as much as I do. Believe it or not the OASIS does get easier with practice. I start gathering the OASIS data with the first phone call noting if the patient can carry a conversation, are they HOH?, do they give directions well?, are they SOB talking on the phone? Then I start my observations at the door noting ambulation, use of assistive devices, breathing pattern, etc. I focus my conversation around the OASIS questions such as, tell me about your pain..... When actually answering the questions I think can the patient SAFELY bathe self in shower or safely dress himself, etc. I always recommend a PT evaluation for any patient with impaired mobility, history of falls, Dx of weakness, or noncompliance with activity restrictions. Hope this helps.

Hi everyone! Can you share your tips on getting the days paperwork done. In the agency I work for, newly hired RNs get multiple SOCs, Recerts, DCs each day. The nurses who have been working there longer choose which pts they will see and which ones they will give away. They all give away any pt who has a packet - SOC, recert, DC, etc and keep the assessments, evals, or woundcare. So a few of us are drowning in paperwork. I've spoken to the supervisor about having to do recerts on pts we've never seen before and have no history on. Mentioning that it would be more appropriate for the nurse who has seen them over the last 60 days to do the recert, but no luck. It's up to us to spend our time in the office researching the pt's chart before doing the recert. Thanks for any tips.