TheReluctantRN

Hospitals are some of the most toxic working environments I've ever been in. It sounds like that charge nurse is insanely jealous of your weight loss, and nothing she has said to you has been professional either. I know that what you said was not right either, but it sounds like you were at the end of your rope with that one. I might have said the same. My suggestion? Try home health. It's way more fun, independent and you get to mostly work alone without all that drama. I bet you would love it! Our jobs are too hard for all that nonsense:)

So I was previously a Home Health Case Manager for many years. I left to work as a Director of a Home Care Company, which closed at the start of Covid. I found myself back in my old stomping grounds in Home Health. Covid changed the dynamic a lot, and every week we were being told to wear something different for PPE. At one point we were told booties, a gown, a N95 and a face shield. This was in the middle of Summer last year and I began also having dizzy spells while driving. I feel like it was because of the heat and the combination of all the gear, which yes I stripped most of it between visits. The final straw for me was that I felt that a bunch of the patients were acting way more entitled than normal. I asked a patient to put away some dogs that were barking and attempting to bite me, something that has never occurred before-- but I chalk it up to my new mummified nurse look-- and this person was super insulted about it. I have a hundred more of those stories. I also had several Covid positive patients, but nothing that worried me. The attitudes of the people I was assisting was really the most appalling--more than I have ever experienced previously. So, I left home health for awhile and now I am back. The PPE wearing has calmed down back to a N95, and now that people are getting vaccinated a lot of the attitudes appear to have shifted a little about me coming in and what I am wearing or not wearing. I've even had several patients ask me to remove my mask which is a far cry from months ago when people were practically shouting at me if I got near them without a large amount of gear on. The administration hasn't improved though, and most of them are continuing to alienate their field staff members (by making them unable to come to the office for even things such as supplies without making a "appointment") and they expect that we are working at 110% perfected capacity. Nevermind the world hasn't yet to return to normal But hey. Whats new?

I've been working home health several years now, I'm a certified Oasis Medicare nurse. I've worked at several different agencies and I feel like to be successful at any of them, you have to set boundaries as to what you want or will accept for work/hours, etc. They won't always honor your wishes and sometimes you will be labeled as difficult, but seriously-- we are not robots and we can only handle so much. Your recovery is important and you need to have that time to be a good home health clinician or nurse in any setting. Home Health has some good qualities like setting your own schedule (mostly) and not being stuck indoors for 8-12 hours a day. But there are many downsides as well. One of the biggest, that I seriously question the legality of it, is the on call rotation at most of these home health agencies. I question whether asking a clinician to work 40 hour weeks and being on call for the entire week they are working is even legal. I'm going to look into it more, because I have never had many on call situations where I was working practically two weeks straight for a lousy extra $50 or $25 a day and was being called all day and night and was hardly able to sleep because of having to see patients all hours of the night an hour away, which means a two hour drive. I have had many nights where I am completely sleepless working all the next day and then again. Home health can be tough.