Murse3

I was in the same position and switched to home health about 6 mos ago and love it. I too use to dread going to work and now don't actually mind it that much. A lot more paper work than bedside, but a lot less stress and a lot more flexibility.

Since I started in HH about 6 mos ago our agency has pushed all RN Case Managers to make all f/u appts w/ M.D.'s to put a face to our HH company. We have seen a moderate increase in referrals since doing this. Another thing we really stress is keeping the M.D. informed of the pt's status, esp. any changes to regimen.

I have a pt at home s/p AVR and pacer placement, ~ 5 weeks postop, that has had noticeable balance problems (she deviates to right side) since having pacer placed. I thought I heard in school that balance problems can be associated with both procedures and that gradual improvement, which has occurred, is to be expected. Anyone have more insight into this situation? Thanks.

I graduated from ISU in Pocatello last December and felt I was prepared well to enter the nursing field. They currently accept around 70 new students each Nov. with apps due in mid-Sep. and the program 5 semester in length. The BSU RN to BSN is through ISU from what I understand also. At a job fair I went to while in school, reps from facilities throughout So. Idaho said they hands-down prefer ISU grads in most cases. I would highly recommend checking ISU out. www.isu.edu P.S. ISU's BSN program usu. has a mid to high 90s first-time pass rate on the NCLEX-RN.

On the16 bed. locked unit I work on, the MHT, or BHT as we call them, performs a safety check every 15 minutes on all pts regardless if they are a new admit or are going home that day which is recorded on a paper with places to show the pt's location and behavior at that time of the check. Obviously, "high concern" pt's are placed on continual observation or line of sight until they deescalate and they still have the 15 minute check sheet filled out by staff. All safety check sheets are placed in the chart once filled for the day and a new one is started. One thing that I like is that our unit really stresses safety on the unit and everyone, nurses and techs, put safety checks as priority number 1. Hope this helps.