donnydilaudid

I love 3-11 shifts! At most facilities I've been to for 3-11s, you will likely have two decent sized med passes - one at dinner time and one at HS. Oftentimes, you'll also have some meds to pass when you first get there at 3 PM but there usually aren't too many. You will see sundowning in full bloom on this shift in your dementia/Alzheimer's/confused residents. Admissions are common as well. It can be pretty busy and frequent interruptions are common, but staying organized and knowing who gets a BP check, who needs full sets of vitals, and who is an AC/HS accucheck can help to make it smoother!

Thank you! You make a good point - there are lots of other home health agencies in my city, and I do enjoy the visits themselves. Might just look into trying out another agency instead of throwing in the towel and going back to LTC. I appreciate the feedback!

Very good to know - hadn't heard of Oyxdol before. I'll look for it. Thank you! ? Oh, and re: the atorvastatin reference, so many of our folks were on it at that facility and it came in a white oblong tablet formulation....a few of the nurses I worked with would tease me occasionally that I resembled one of the pills when I'd come to work wearing all white.

Advice, learning, support, venting...I'm new, membership wise, to AN, but I've browsed it since I was in high school in the late 2000s. Seems like a good resource!

I don't think state would have any issue with it. It would be more of a thing that'd be up to your employer's dress code. I don't wear a cap and dress (male nurse here) but I do proudly wear my LPN pin and often wear a traditional collared white uniform top, white slacks, and white shoes, similar to when I was in nursing school. They take a bit of effort to keep clean, I have to bleach the heck out of them, and I've definitely been teased plenty of times by other nurses about looking like a walking Atorvastatin coming down the hall, LOL, but I like them! Patients tend to like them too!

I believe that was his ancestry!

I worked in a sleepy little SNF for a few years and started out on the night shift. I had a resident on hospice, end stage CHF and CKD, who was confused. He'd call the nurses station instead of calling his wife by accident. I'd tell him, "Mr. XYZ, you've reached the nurses station, this is DonnyDilaudid, your nurse. I'll come in and call your wife for you." It would happen like clockwork nearly every night around midnight for a few weeks. He deteriorated, as expected, and eventually, he died. For three nights after he died, the phone in his room would ring in to the station around midnight - nobody on the other end. On the third night, my third of three in a row, when the phone rang into the station from his room, I said, "Mr. XYZ, this is DonnyDilaudid. I'll come let you out." Went into the room, opened the window for a few seconds and shut it again. No more phone calls from an empty room after that! The aides and I were spooked!

Hi y'all, new here, been a lurker for many years. I'm new to home health; started in early December. Have 5 years of prior experience in various settings (was staff in LTC, med-surg, and dev disabilities, and have done facility shifts through this particular agency.) I had one day of ride-along for orientation, asked for more, but was told I'd "be fine, it's simple, you'll catch on." Was given 5 patients with 12 visits total a week. When I questioned it, I was told, "We'll have many more by New Years, just hang on until then." The office schedules the visits and they can be as early as 5 AM or as late as 8 PM - no flexibility on times per the nurse manager. Visits don't seem to be too technically difficult - lots of wound care and diabetics - and I do like the patients. Financially, it's been rough. I'm paid per visit and am not going to last much longer on the paychecks I've been making from them. The way these visits are scheduled, I can't pick up a facility shift unless I want to end up working 6-7 days a week. I am told weekly that, "we'll have a bunch of admissions soon and you'll have a full schedule." That hasn't happened and I'm getting a sinking feeling from the lack of orientation and lack of patients. Is this normal for home health? I hate to jump ship on them, but I'm really considering just going back to LTC to have a livable paycheck...thanks for any and all advice/words of wisdom!