ragtopnurse

I think maybe you misunderstood what I was saying. I was actually referring more to the advice that someone had given you to "just call in". I wasn't criticizing you in any way but apparently you thought I was. And in answer to your question, yes I h...

I agree totally.

We don't use computers and I don't really think our company ever will. We are supposed to do our charting in the patients home but with recerts and PHEs you have to review the chart in the office so that is where we complete it. Of course we all are ...

This is correct. We have to give all Medicare patients a 48hr DC notice if patient is remaining in the community with the exception that the patient is requesting discharge from HomeCare. In this case you don't have to give one.

Is anyone else being told to decrease the number of nursing, therapy, etc visits per episode. A few years back we were told that we couldn't keep patients if their freq was only one time a week. Now we are being told to decrease them to one time a we...

From what I have learned Medicare pays a lump sum per episode based on the case mix diagnosis and the clinical, functional and service scores compiled from the Oasis MOO questions. If you don't get at least 5 total visits it falls into what they call...

Our on call system is very similar to this except on the weekends our RNs take first call and the LPNs take backup. This is because we do so many weekend admissions and PHEs. Our field nurses take call, office nurses do not. We do get a day off durin...

In our office only the full-time nurses take call. We have 5 full time RNs and 4 full time LPNs, we have several prn of each but they don't take call. We do call one night at a time during the week and it rotates. On the nights that an LPN is on call...

No, Medicare doesn't see port flushes as a skill to keep patients solely for that, but we can keep them for monthly B12 injections if they have a diagnosis of pernicious anemia, now tell me how that makes sense. I would much rather have a family memb...

I gained about 10 lbs the first year I was in HomeCare but I got back to walking and eating better and it came off. I have since stopped walking very much but I still try to eat right (most of the time). I really want to start walking again because I...

Great idea!

Is teaching your only skill and have you taught everything on the disease such as meds, s/s to report, ways to manage their disease when HomeCare has DC'd? I know that frequently this happens, the patient is stable and you have taught everything 2 or...

I have been in HomeCare for 7 yrs and I love it. It is like anything else, it has it's good days and bad days but overall it is a very satisfying career. I don't really think you will put in more hours than you do now if you are working full time. Ou...

I have been in HomeCare for 7 yrs but I have recently been thinking about case management myself. Our company doesn't have such positions so I would love to hear what you think of it if you take this position. If anyone else can tell me how to pursue...

So true about the paperwork. Putting it off is a very bad habit to get in and once you start it is hard to break. If you put it off for one day you will be trying to play catch up all week. It took me awhile but I did break the habit and I was much l...

Hi, I am a Home Health RN and our agency only does visits. We typically see 7 pts a day if we don't have an Oasis to do. We do have an agency in our town that does both. They call the full shifts private duty nursing. They use RNs for the Home Care v...

Like AnnemRN said, we have a couple of DME companies in our town and we aren't in a large city. We fax the order to the DME company along with Medicare or Ins # , demographics,etc and they handle the rest. They bill Medicare and handle all the paperw...

I am a Home Health RN and I would not recommend it to a new grad. You have to have good critical thinking skills and that is something that you can get only with time and experience, not school. I would not have wanted to do it fresh out of school. H...

I am a Home Health RN and I have to agree with the other nurses that have posted a reply. This is not a setting that a new nurse should be in. I had experience when I started but I have worked with some nurses that had been out of school for less tha...

These are all so true, especially the one about the veins, I am constantly feeling the veins in my husband's arm. Of course he doesn't see the humor in it that we do, lol.

I disagree with the advice to call in. We all know what it is like to work short because someone called in and ultimately it is patient care that suffers. The suggestions of prn so you can choose your schedule is a good idea. I was a single mom with ...