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I've been a hospice nurse for almost 2 years & I have to say it's the best career choice I've ever made...I love what I do. I have both inpatient and homecare (Case Management) experience. I much prefer CM. It's not an easy job by any means. Your car will become your "office". You have to be flexible, your schedule may change 2-3 times in one day, hour, minute...no, that's not an exaggeration. There's a great deal of autonomy, you have to be able to work independently. There's also the interdisciplinary team, so you also have to be able to communicate effectively. Sharp all-around (physical as well as emotional) assessment skills are an absolute must in hospice care, especially CM where you're on your own so much, you are the relied on eyes & ears of the team. One of the main differences between hospice & hospital care is "family care". Many times your care will be more centered around the family than the pt, especially in the home setting. Family dynamics will sometimes dictate much of the pt care. Teaching is a huge part of hospice. Also, CM requires good organizational skills. Hospice nursing is often much more emotionally draining than hospital nursing. You can't allow yourself to take personal hits in hospice nursing. It's a difficult time & many times people will say/do things that they ordinarily would not say/do. You must learn to take care of yourself as well. Just remember that your Chaplain's are there for you, too, & it is confidential. It is a specialty all it's own &, in it's own way, it is a very rewarding job. Through all the ups & downs, ins & outs, & sometimes roller coaster type days I have to say...."I'm a hospice nurse, & I love what I do!". I hope you find it as rewarding as I do, all my best to you. :redbeathe

My Great-grandmother was a hypochondriac & when she couldn't think of anything specific, she'd say she had "the eggeries"!

Home health agencies vary in employment status. Some hire as independent contractor's (which puts you dealing with your own taxes) & some as direct employees. The pay is also variable. Some agencies are pay-per-visit, which means your income will vary with the census & how much a specific type of visit pays, and some are salary. So far in my experience, I've found the salary positions to be the most reliable income-wise. There's also an awful lot of "off the clock" work with the per-visit situations...you don't get paid for "chart time"...this goes toward what's called "productivity", but doesn't have any financial benefit for you. I've not seen any agencies that don't reimburse for mileage, but the rate for that & how it's paid also varies by agency. As far as what you'll be doing as a HH nurse it's called "case management". You are responsible for the coordination of the pts care...lots of teaching & education, direct care, calling docs, collaborating with other team members such as physical/occupational therapy, ordering supplies, med management, drawing labs, IV therapy, wound care...the whole 9 yards. Homehealth requires exceptional nursing skills as there is a great deal of autonomy with this job...more times than not, you're very much on your own in the field. It's a very difficult, but rewarding job that requires a great deal of critical thinking & being on your toes. Personally, and because of the amount of autonomy & responsibility, I would not recommend homecare to a new grad. Get some floor experience (get comfortable in your new role as a nurse), even just 6 months, & then give it some thought. Congrats on passing NCLEX & all my best to you! :) P.S. A good GPS is a nice little investment for the HH nurse!

Considering his circumstances, I think he's as homebound as he can possibly be...if he were my pt, I'd definitely continue services. His life circumstances are what they are & he's doing his best to be as compliant as possible. :)

You might wanna practice the "mouth breathing" technique carefully, my friend, things do tend to splatter, spray, leak, or otherwise explode...there may come a day when you really will "taste the smell"!

All these are just too funny! Mine's not quite as humorous, but I gotta throw it in anyway... A couple of years ago I had this pleasantly confused little old lady with a colostomy. She didn't have a clue what it was & we had fussed back & forth all day over this ostomy bag. She was determined to pull it off & I was determined she wasn't gonna! Finally, on my last rounds, I walk in & my sweet little angel, with the biggest ear to ear grin I've ever seen, is covered from head to toe in poo & is waving her ostomy bag over her head like it was the American flag....through all her confusion just as plain as day she says, "I won"!

All I can say is...EEEWWWWWW!!!!!

Thank you for sharing the web site...I'm sure others will find it quite helpful. It's only been 2 years since I worked at OPMC & it was more than I cared to deal with. I felt that not only were my pts in jeopardy, but my license as well, so I found something better. Lol...I agree , Shands is a scary experience! Congrats & all my best to you! :)

Flagler is the best of the 3.

Yes, I worked full time while going for my BSN. It was stressful, but doable...I managed to pull my GPA up from a 3.75 to a 3.98 & maintain it. However, I loaded myself with 9-10 credit hrs every single semester...not something I really recommend doing. Lol...in other words, I had no life! A few words of wisdom...I wouldn't combine (double up on) any religions course (Dr. Bursey is excellent, but tough) or world civ with any other courses. I also wouldn't recommend combining pharm with pathophysiology. The capstone course, Seminar, is also better in the full 14 weeks than in the accelerated 7 weeks. It's not so much a difficult course as it is an extremely busy course. Healing Words, Health & Wellbeing, & Aging & Society are great courses to combine with the other core nursing courses. I would also consider it best to take stats the semester before taking Nursing Research. Stats wasn't as bad as it sounds...it wasn't the actual math that was taught, but how to read and understand the various statistical symbols & such. Anyway, hope this helps...all my best to you! :)

I just graduated from FHC's BSN program this past December. My beliefs are Nondenominational Christian & I didn't find that they pushed the Seventh Day Adventist's specific beliefs in any way. I actually found the required religions courses to be quite interesting. It's not geared towards trying to change or raise conflict with one's own personal beliefs at all. They simply teach the foundations of the different religions & how it applies to healthcare. I thought it to be a good thing because of my greater understanding of a person's beliefs, I can now take a more holistic approach in my practice. All of FHC's course work & exams are on line as well...the only thing that isn't is a required 8 hrs shadowing a Dr. or ARNP & a return demo head to toe to the person you shadowed. I really don't think they'd "penalize" anyone for their personal beliefs...several of my courses had students that were either agnostic or didn't believe in God at all. It wasn't an easy program by any means, but I thought it to be a very good program that left me with a greater understanding of what nursing actually is as well as more confidence in myself and my practice.

Jamie, What's your first class? Mine is Healthcare Policy.

I've attended this school & know of other's that are currently attending. I also taught at this school as well. My personal opinions are formed from mine & their experiences. Not saying you're wrong, but I find it kinda interesting that they couldn't post the same info on their web site that you have provided. I think accreditation info is necessary to make an informed choice. College is an important decision. In light of my own experience, I think SBI makes it's own fair share of financial gains from this community...I also believe that there are better programs available. Also, the web site is obviously very misleading...I didn't directly state that the Jax campus does have an LPN program...I just stated that SBI's LPN program is approved by the FL Bon, but didn't see anything about an RN program. Maybe SBI needs to revamp their site! I have also worked at OPMC & of course they love new grads...almost anybody who puts in an app will get a call because the working conditions are so poor that they can't keep good, experienced nurses. The picture that the recruiter paints & what's reality is usually 2 completely different things. IMHO, an 8-9 pt load is extremely dangerous & very exhausting...

Thank you & all my best to you, Lunah!

I have a quick question for everybody that is going through or has graduated from Chamberlain's BSN program...are or were you satisfied enough with this program that you would consider going through their MSN program? I have been accepted into the MSN program & will be starting in July. Since there hasn't been a graduating class from the MSN program yet, there's no real feedback on it. The admissions & finance process went very smooth & my adviser has been awesome. After looking at the curriculum & taking the orientation, I believe I'll be very pleased with this program. Thanks in advance for your input!