livinglighthouse

I feel like I am a lucky one.........I worked in the hospital setting for 8 years, Med/Surg, Oncology, Cardiac/Neuro, Case Management. I started in home health last year and I agree that the first year is tough.......and you feel like you are working all the time but the key I found was in setting boundaries....and sometimes that can be very unpopular. I work in California for a large hospital system, I make $120K+, max mileage, about 20-40 miles per day. I am a specialized home health nurse working with advanced illness patients (special population and focused on palliative care and helping people transition to hospice)......I'm also cross trained as an infusion nurse. I see 4 patients per day if they are standard revisits or 2 SOC. I am generally in the homes for an hour each and another hour charting after, although I have paired that down. So after a year, I rarely, I mean rarely work over 8 hours, sometimes less and I have a very nice doable schedule............my orientation was 3 months long and very thorough. I think the key to success is the organization you work for and their priorities, I actually left this organization for a few months for more money but came back (actually they asked me back, and offered me a bonus plus better pay to come back)....because they support their staff so well.

In a typical 8 hour day most home health nurses I know use that time very differently and not always in a strict 8-5 linear fashion, nor seeing patients starting first thing in the morning...........I am curious how people set up their days to work for them. Here's some examples of people I know.. 1. Starts seeing patients at 7-8am, done by 1-2pm to pick up kids at school, charts at night after kids go to bed 2. Husband works swing shift, doesn't see patients until starting around noon until 5, then charts in evening while he is at work 3. Charts in the morning after seeing patient, sees patients one after another with no charting until early afternoon. 4. Goes to gym and a class at the local college in the afternoon, sees patients in morning, charts at night. So, how do you use your flexibility to your advantage, for your circumstantces?

Just want to let everyone know how things ended up..........Had to meet with Compliance Dept today, signed a disclosure that I will not share or distribute hipaa information and that I verify that the email had been deleted and trash bin emptied as well. They then said since its during my probation period of 90 days it is an automatic termination or I could resign. Kaiser policy is any compliance violation is automatic ineligible for rehire regardless. I chose to resign as I have another job waiting for me and don't need unemployment benefits and my reputation is more important to me than the unemployment money. Disappointed I'm ineligible for rehire, but I get it. I was relieved there were no other ramifications, so I will call it a serious lesson learned.

Thank you for your reply. I did not report it as my thought was that the information was sent to myself, and that the info was something part of my job, not unauthorized access to info. Deleting it I figured my only error was accidentally emailing it to myself....I didn't consider that it was a true hipaa violation but I read after the fact that even just the act of emailing it to myself was a violation......even though the information was authorized and it was not shared with anyone but myself. In retrospect I should have reported it. I am in a right to work state and no I am not union......my relationship with my direct supervisor is really non existent, he is rarely at my office and he has not been very involved with the direction or feedback on my job thus far. I have not been happy with the job overall and had been considering leaving the position, but of course I don't want to leave on a poor note. I am really more wondering if I should be worried about them reporting this to anyone then I am about losing my job per say.

I just started a new job at Kaiser and am 2 months into my 90 day probation. I inadvertently created a hippa violation. Here is what happened. I had made some word/excel documents with checklists to help me remember tasks with my new job. I wanted to work on them at home so I emailed them from work to my home email address to have access on my laptop. Well while grabbing these files there was a database file I also grabbed unknowingly. When it transferred I got an alert email that stated I had accessed patient info. I immediately, from my work computer, went into my personal email, deleted the email, unopened, and emptied my trash and archive. I never accessed the information. Well because the file had Med Rec #'s it triggered an alert to my supervisor and they began a HIPPA investigation and they put me on paid administrative leave until they finish their investigation. They asked to see my email folders, which I complied with, to show the files were not stored on my computer. I've never had a hippa violation but now I'm a little freaked out........should I be worried, especially being on probation? Wondering if the fact that I never opened the file and nor did I intentionally look for the info is a factor.

the benefits are very good....and the case load is 15 for the first year and then 20 thereafter....

I have been in the hospital for 8 years now.....I have begun to specialize in chemotherapy, palliative care. I got an offer from a big hospital in Sacramento for HH Advanced Illness Management............the offer is M-F 8-5pm, one Saturday on call every 6 weeks. Salary 98,000 a year plus .57cents a mile, productivity bonuses monthly from 200-1000 a month. Thoughts?

I currently work FT in Nor Cal making $42 base pay...we do not own a home so would not qualify for a tax home.........would I end up taking a paycut to travel???? We are mostly interested in the traveling, not necessarily getting rich (unrealistic, period) but we would like to make enough to put chunks of money away to buy a home eventually when we settle back down somewhere. Our plan is to RV as our housing....

I was alternate #3 this semester and got in. Ultimately 6 alternates got in. We have a class of 48........I think each school is different and a lot has to do with how many students are accepted. I didn't find out until the beginning of December that I got in for January.......a lot of scrambling as there were many things they said not to do unless you definitely got in.......books, ATI, etc... but it all worked out in the end. If its meant to be, it wil be. Just hope for the best and prepare for the worst and you can't go wrong...... Rachel

I had family orientation last Thursday, then this Thursday I have a 4 hour orientation (lots of paperwork I hear) then start classes on Monday. the first 8 weeks we have no clinicals, dosage calculations/pharmocology, theory, med/surg, lab and fundamentals. second 8 weeks adds clinicals and drops med calc/pharm definitely and scared all together.....

My school is Butte Community College in Oroville, California

And it was great, I think all nursing school should do this. They did a powerpoint to show the number of hours the student is in class and the number of hours they should be studying at home so the family understands the workload. They also talked about how the family can help the student by picking up the slack at home and being quiet for study times and for just giving some extra consideration at the stress the student is going through. They then took the students and their families for a tour of the nursing building and went through all the lab simulators and clinical areas, explaining what they would be doing in each class. I really enjoyed it and my family did too. No matter how much I tell them how hard its going to be, it always helps to hear it from someone else. One thing I would recommend is that we noticed many students who showed up, took the tour and left.........without introducing themselves to the instructors or even speaking to the other students. I already made contact with each of my teachers and hopefully made myself known. Even in a little way, you want to make the effort. I think those students who didn't do that maybe don't understand politics of school and getting to know the people you are about to spend 2 years with. I hope all schools some day will offer this family orientation......

At the school I'm starting at I've heard pushing ANY IV meds without your instructor present will get you immediately expelled. No ifs and or buts.

I start in two weeks and here is what I've been doing/will do. 1. Read the intro/first chapter in each of my textbooks 2. Getting a message 3. Stocking up on school supplies and snacks to keep in my car 4. Getting my house in order 5. Reading what may be my last novel for awhile 6. Turning 40 and having an enormous party (2 days before school starts) 7. Taking the pre-test in my dosage calculations book and will review what I miss 8. Got my study in order and nicely decorated so it will be easy to "want" to spend time in there 9. Preparing my family for picking up the slack 10. Getting my haircut and styled in an easy to fix style I'm mostly relaxing with a few moments of preparation thrown in.

We have a family orientation next week on the 14th (this is where your spouse, kids, parents come) this is pretty cool that our school does to help prepare the families for what the student is going through for the next 2 years and they give ideas of how they can help them at home. Then student orientation is the week after that on the 21st, classes start on the 25th.

As my husband so graciously likes to remind me it's not.what you say but how you say it. I have an extremely strong personality and have had to work hard to find the ways to say things to get my point across without being rude or condescending. I find overall that is an advantage to be strong as nursing can be a tough environment and those that can't speak up for themselves often are unhappy and tend to get run over. Be proud of yourstrength and focus on how you say things rather than compromising your ideas and thoughts.

I just found out last week that I'll be starting in January, I was an alternate....

they started that and I retook Micro and Physio, but they changed it back before I had to retake Anatomy

1. Flashcards, flashcards, flashcards - indispensable tool for learning anything 2. Highlighters- I use them on everything. Don't be afraid to mark up your book. Get different colors for various tasks. 3. rewrite your notes, just the act of doing this helps cement it in your mind. Doesn't have to be perfect, but the repetition is the most important thing 4. Print PowerPoints and write notes on the slides....this helps connect written with visual and auditory. That triple connection again helps cement things in your brain. The more ways you learn it the better you retain. 5. Teach it to someone else. When I had to learn Kreb's Cycle in Micro the best thing I did was teach it to my high school son. When you can expalin it to someone you have really learned it.

I'm concerned that I will be at a disadvantage in nursing school starting next semester with it not being fresh in my mind. I have netter's anatomy cards at home..........do you feel like you used a lot of anatomy info and terms in NS??

I'm thinking of Tabers and Davis Drug Guide and possibly RN Notes. The textbooks I know I'll want a hard copy of for studying......but the others I'm wondering if I really need both. What are your thoughts?

thank you, all very helpful information.

After I finished my pre-reqs I had to apply 3 times (the first semester after they weren't taking new apps as they were switching to a lottery system rather than a waiting list). Our program is a pure lottery but you do get your name in an additional time for each time you applied before. So the third time my name was in the hat 3 times. I got picked as an alternate, but just got called last week saying I was in for January.

So, now I have so much to do in only 2 short months. I would love to hear some suggestions on specifics of what to buy beforehand. What resources were most helpful to you? Backpacks to books, organizers, calendars, stethoscope..........anything you can give to help this 39yo mom of 3 teenagers to help her not go crazy would be most appreciated! Rachel

i live in the area and have a friend that just graduated from CSU Chico's nursing program. I don't know about that points cutoff, but the admissions office said they got 300 applicants and admitted 140......so that is some info on the competition for spots......