smellyacres

Thanks for the tips!! Yeah I'm not leaving before I'm vested regardless - I might have the option to do HH full time now, within my current company, because they are associated with the hospital I work at now. I'll definitely ask if they pay hourly, good advice. I also wonder how flexible the position is, like, can I schedule my own hours as long as I meet 40/week. And how they are supporting their employees through covid. I have an application out to a different HH company, per diem through a different hospital organization too, so I might start there. I know many patients and healthcare workers who think highly of them. Wasn't sure what the learning curve will be so I was more asking if its better to go full time right off the bat, or do per diem first (because with either option I can stay at my current company). Do you work full time? What are your typical hours and days like? How much charting do you do at home versus at the patients home?

Hi All, I've been a RN at the bedside 4 years, in the ICU for the last 2. I used to do LTC home health assessments on the side (pre-covid), and loved visiting patients in their homes. I also have years of live-in caregiver experience from before I was a RN. Basically I've known home health is something I've wanted to do from the beginning, but didn't want to jump into it without first having a strong clinical foundation. I like my ICU job but I don't feel like it's my "calling" or anything. I do miss visiting patients in their homes. Based on your experience, would you recommend taking a full time home health position or starting per diem and working up to full time? Keep in mind I could always go back to my ICU job if I left for a while (they like me and are known to re-hire & re-orient nurses after leaving the bedside for extended periods of time). My thought process is that going into home health case management full time would really give me the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of the job, so I'd get better/more comfortable with it faster - and I could always go back to the bedside if I wanted. On the flip side, starting off in HH per diem might be nice so I could keep my current job incase I decided it wasn't for me or didn't like the company, but it seems like it'd also take a lot more time to learn the ropes and actually get good/efficient at the job. Also, with my experience I already know I like the home setting and am fine with the charting aspect. I recently found out I have a connective tissue disorder and I'm basically a L&I claim waiting to happen, so that's another reason for considering leaving the bedside all together. I'm feeling an itch to do something different with my life, and hopefully find my niche, just undecided on how to go about doing it. I need to stay with my current company (large healthcare conglomerate) a total of 5 years to be vested in my retirement and have just under a year left, so my options are 1) full time home health job at same company 2) decrease current FTE and go per diem at a different home health company What would you do if you were in my shoes and/or had to do it all over again? Thanks ?

I thought I could never work nights... then I started my new grad residency on a tele floor, and became so overwhelmed during my preceptorship on dayshift that by the time I was told there were only night shift positions available for my cohort, I was thrilled. By far the best way to start and learn as a new grad in my opinion. I lasted about a year before it became too hard for my body and went to dayshift. Had to go back to nights when I started in ICU, but again, great for learning. It's also nice to get to know everyone on night shift, then when you get to dayshift you feel like you're friends with everyone. At least that's been my experience (x2). A day shift position will open up. At my first job one opened up after about 6 months (I didn't take the first opening). At my ICU job I had to wait a year before getting on dayshift, but there's just no way to predict how long it will take anywhere. Night shift money is nice too. Good luck!

You’re never going to love your job every single day. I think that is universal for any career. I’ve loved both of my nursing jobs (switched to work closer to home), and though there are things I don’t love about nursing, for me, the things I do FAR outweigh the things I don’t. The work can be grueling, and sometimes I fantasize about other careers for variety and income opportunities, but even if I chose to do something else, I’d always be a nurse... at least per Diem. Even if I won the lottery. Never in a million years would I dream of giving up my license or my nursing practice. I love being a nurse.

I’ve been on Everett’s SICU for almost a year and generally like it. However, the ICUs here are a closed unit and I hear worse things about the rest of the hospital. Pay is comparable to other hospitals but OT and benefits a bit worse. Prior to this unit I worked at Swedish in Seattle. If you’re looking for a prov hospital and want to work in the city I recommend them as they are owned by prov. They have a better union and therefore benefits.

UW is a very well respected hospital and I hear have good benefits. Same with Virginia Mason but I don’t know much about them. Both have good reputations. I worked at Swedish cherry hill (they have multiple locations, CH is neuro and cardiac only), which I recommend, they have a great cardiac program - not much vascular even though they call themselves a CVICU. I moved up to Prov Everett’s SICU because I bought a house up here and was sick of commuting. We don’t do ecmo but Swedish does. Not sure about the others I mentioned. Good luck!

We had a resident dementia patient on our tele unit for quite a long time due to placement issues. He used to stand outside his room by the nurses station and greet people. A patient’s wife walked up to the desk and he looked at HER and said, “If I didn’t know any better I would say that was a toupee on your head!”

Hey all, So my background is in cardiac & cardiac surgery tele, and I recently started working on a surgical ICU. I want to get my CSC, and my question is, should I also get my CMC? Are there significant advantages to having both certs vs just one? Couldn't find much info out there regarding reasons to have both instead of one, but it seems like a lot of RNs do both so I'm just wondering if it's worth it. Thanks!!!

Hey guys! Just FYI I started in October, had my first interview in the beginning of July, and didn't have second interviews until mid September. Don't lose hope!

We have!! Did you get in?

Yay! Congrats!

Yeah I had my first phone interview the first week of July! Long process for sure. I hope you both hear back soon! I'm coming from Los Angeles!

Yeah it's great you have a backup plan! Yes, it does start October 24th. She said the onboarding process can be done remotely (background check, drug screen, etc), so you don't have to be up there until the first day. I was worried because my apartment is not going to be ready until the weekend before the start date. They also have a great relocation package and assist with your move.

Oh good I'm glad some are still deciding. I was told by cardiac telemetry and Neuro ICU this 10/7 was their deadline, but they have been behind with everything so I'm not surprised that it's been extended. I took cardiac telemetry at cherry hill, not neuro tele. Same campus, different unit. Yes, rejections are sent out via email and offers by phone. (I received two rejections and one offer)

They called me last Thursday about the cardiac unit but I was waiting til yesterday to find out about neuro icu before accepting. I was told all offers had to go out by yesterday. For me rejections came via email and offers came via phone call.