bshaw96

I have been in home health 8 years as a case manager as well as admissions nurse. I know hh inside and out. We recently adopted a child and I have applied for a Baylor position with my company. It's a salaried position (32 hours, paid for 40) with th...

I'm sorry but none of this story makes a bit of sense to me. In what world would anyone think it was possible to do 26 visits a day? I don't care who you are you know that's not possible. The story would be more believable if the nurse was claiming 1...

I would think that would depend on your assigned area and your time mgmt skills. I am usually off by 3pm, but as you said, that leaves lots of paperwork at night, which can also start to cause problems. But yes, hh is about the closest thing to schoo...

Has anyone ever used the skin prep pads under a duoderm pad? I'm new to HH, but I went out with the HH nurse last week. There is a patient with a stage 2 on her sacrum. They are having problems with the duoderm peeling off. She is bedridden, and is n...

I have a HH patient with a skin tear on the back of her LLL. The skin pretty much peeled off so there were no edges to approximate. I am by no means a wound care expert, so I just did what I'd seen done in the past. I cleansed it with NS, applied a v...

I'm 3 weeks into orientation and annoyed. My preceptor refused to check me off on wound care BC I forgot to change my gloves 4 times during simple dressing change. Company policy. Fine. I'm not too prideful for criticism. However in same visit I watc...

I know. Orientation is great. And I've got the sense to stay off her bad side That's why I vent here and not to her. But honestly with 5 years hh experience all the orientation is annoying LOL. I just wanna work already!

OK, maybe I misunderstood your question? I thought you were asking if diabetes made a patient automatically at risk for pressure ulcers. Not necessarily, depending on the other factors mentioned. I have admitted many patients who have diabetes as a c...

I would say your diabetic patients are more at risk for diabetic ulcers, or infected/trauma type wounds, but not necessarily pressure. (Although depending on other factors, they could very well also develop pressure areas) Also, being recently hospit...

Do you guys typically see the patients you case manage? I ask because I don't. I'm new to HH, though I did do Hospice. I case manage 50 patients. Which to me feels like a lot bc I only work part time, 3 days a week. The full time nurses only manage a...

The first time I sent her to the ER it was supposed to be for a flow study. They never did it, and the IV nurse just accessed it and sent her back. I was in the process (today actually) of calling to get the orders to have her set up for outpatient q...

I have only been in HH since February, and genuinely love it. Although recently, I'm starting to see things I don't like. Here's the problem. I have posted before about trouble accessing one of my patient's ports. It has tilted and migrated. She is o...

Need some opinions. I am a HH nurse who has a patient with an open surgical wound to lower back midline. We have been doing VAC therapy for about 6 weeks now and have only seen minimal improvement. I know he has MRSA, for which he's receiving BID Van...

Wow, thanks so much for all of that information and taking the time to write it!! That helps alot! I had heard of the chambers, but that's about it. Now when he starts talking about it, I don't feel quite as lost! Oh, about the fire thing, I didn't s...

See, this is why I'm so glad my agency is not a for profit business. The last job I had was with a hospice agency that was for profit, which I think just sounds bad, much less how it actually was! It was horrible!!!!!! Much like you described. Tried ...

Hi there. I have a question about port access. I am a home health nurse and this has been a week for things I've never seen before. First a male foley problem, and now a port problem. 12 years of nursing, you think you've seen it all, guess not. Anyw...

I need some opinons. I have a male patient that we do weekly wound care and monthly foley changes on. We have been having problems with his cath leaking off and on for months now, despite going up in foley size. But the past 2 weeks, even more proble...

For Medicare, no, for Medicaid, yes. Most of my medicaid monthly patients are what we call CAP assessments. They have CAP in, but they contract us out to do the monthly assessment that keeps the CAP aide in the home. And most of my CAP patients are n...

Yes, that is what we were using the last few times. The leaking doesn't concern me as much as why it was suddenly difficult (no, impossible) to get another in. I guess the urethra could be swollen/irritated from all the reinsertions, but it literally...

I have a few 15 minute visits on my stable patients that I just see for once a month assessments, or for my prefills with vitals. But that is just the visit, no documentation included. Since we are not allowed to do less than a 30 minute visit, I'll ...

I feel your pain on the seeing patients that aren't yours, etc. etc. (See rant below) though that is finally getting better. As for your VE question, I am pay per visit so I set my own goal, which is 24 per week. I usually do 8 points 3 days a week. ...

Yeh, normal ranges is all I can think of too. Does the agency use the PT/INR machine? Maybe they want you to be proficient in that, though no big deal, like a glucometer only a little more tempermental. Precautions for patients maybe? Hmmm, let me kn...

I came from a strictly long term care background. 11 years of it to be exact. I hadn't seen an acute care floor (though I personally consier LTC facilities to be quite "acute") since nursing school. I was worried like you but have adjusted fine. In f...

I have been going pretty regular to a LTC facility only 20 minutes from my house. M-F, 7-3, perfect for my situation. Until today. I was doing trach care on a man, 65 years old, COMPLETELY A & O x 3. Have been working with him for weeks, no probl...

2 nurses in orientation with me are from Gentiva, and they both hated it. 2 separate offices. All they talk about is horrible management, long hours, bad assignments, no respect, etc. That and the fact it is a for profit agency which seems to make a ...