conscientiousnurse

Maybe you should check into a variety of healthcare careers to see if any of them would be a good fit for your physical limitations and career goals.: 1. Speech Therapist: diagnosing and treating disorders of speech and swallowing. Not too much physical work needed, needs a Master's degree, not too bad of pay. Many work in schools, which would be a good schedule for kids. 2.Dental hygienist: probably Bachelor's needed. A lot of sitting probably; most physical work is probably with upper body, not lower. 3. Counselor: not sure what qualifications needed in your state. But not a lot of physical work. 4. Various technicians, such as EKG technician or Radiology Technician. But it's possible they need to assist patients into position.

Thanks, Rntr and MBARNBSN! Yes, I saw the online resources at Humana. Haven't talked to any social workers yet (probably none at our agency) but I saw Humana does have a central resource specialist that can be communicated with.

Thanks for asking! I'm not a home health nurse, but a field case manager working for an agency that is contracted for Humana. It's not workman's comp, and not working for Medicaid. (Most of it will be visiting in the field doing assesments, connecting people to resources, etc., but no hands-on nursing). Doesn't seem like there will be a lot of orientation.

I've recently gotten a job in field case management helping chronically ill patients who are with a certain insurance provider. My first position in this field; I don't even have home health case manager experience. Any words of advice, or resources to look up? Would it help to get some kind of nursing care plan book to help with making action plans?

It is extremely rare, I know, but I know a patient who got Guillain barre syndrome after the shot. If a vaccine is really necessary, I'll get it. But the flu shot? As a fairly healthy person with no family members with immunodeficiency syndromes, I'm not convinced on the benefit vs. potential risk. If my work required it, that would be another matter.

HealthyNurse, thanks for the vaccine ingredients calculator link! I looked at it, and actually at least 1 brand of single-dose flu vaccine (Novartis) has thimersol (mercury) in it. And a lot of them have formaldehyde. Flu vaccines for sure aren't going to prevent any strain of the flu that's not in that year's vaccine either. I'd rather just keep my immunity up, and stay home from work if I do get sick.

If you're able to insert IVs so well, have you considered applying for Phlebotomist positions? Seems like a job that doesn't require heavy lifting or a lot of the things nurses hate about their jobs. Also, some insurance companies hire people to go to homes to do phlebotomy and simple exams to check eligibility for life insurance.

I did PD in the past. You could look up more info on ventilator care (alarms, etc.), and videos on any other skills your clients have that you're not that comfortable with. Maybe review basics on peds, like vital signs, normal development. Also, a peds textbook should tell you the physiological differences between kids and adults. For instance, sometimes young kids don't have as much reserve and can go downhill faster. As far as being a specialty you can do till retirement, just keep your eyes wide open on the following.: Many of your clients will be total care, and will be growing heavier with time. You will be the one turning and transferring them. Sure, they might get a Hoyer lift at some point, but some clients can still be wearing on your back. Even night shift often has to turn during the night, and/or transfer client to or from bed. Also, it can sometimes be difficult to have a stable amount of work. If clients go to the hospital or move out of your area, you won't get to work for that client while they're not at home, and it can take time to find you another one. The families also can sometimes be difficult, but it sounds like you know how to handle that. If it weren't for those problems, a lot more nurses would enjoy this field as a "till retirement" job. But just in case your back can't handle it with time, I'd try to keep my skills up for another area of nursing for the future.

Here's my point of view.: One of the basic things in man is the fight to stay alive. Unless the person has a terminal illness (or is very elderly with general poor health) and has now accepted the fact they will soon die, someone not having a desire to stay alive gives me a big red flag. In this situation, we assume they are not in their usual state of mind, and not in the position to make this kind of decision at the moment." A permanent solution to a temporary problem" is right. I believe life is something worth fighting for, whether in myself or in others. I believe that natural death has a lot of dignity to it. This culture being centered on the value of life, I believe is a good aspect of our culture, which is slowly being lost. I shiver to think what will happen if we lose this value altogether.

FYI: This sounds like private-duty home care, so you may get more supplies in that section rather than this "home Health" section which is for intermittent visits. What to expect? You will most likely do CNA duties along with LPN duties (repositioning ct/ transferring to chair, bathing). In the PD agency I worked at before, we also did a little bit of housekeeping, like dusting and vacuuming and washing the client's own supplies, sometimes even the patient's laundry. The reasoning is that the client needs a healthy and clean environment. They did not have an aide available to be paid for, and the family already was responsible for the client usually for about 8 hrs/day (which might be the night shift). They figured we had time to maintain the client's immediate environment (and perhaps laundry) along with our other duties. Now, we never did things like windows, cleaning bathrooms, mopping floors, or cleaning kitchens.

I don't know about the pay scale for sure, but it's probably higher in Seattle than Vancouver. You could try googling nurse salary and location; they might have that on Indeed. The most important, though, is not the salary, but whether you'll be able to get a job at all, in a reasonable amount of time. In the Olympia area, jobs are hard to land. Pierce county also is listed on the "balanced" list rather than the "in demand" list for R.N.s. I think King County and Clark county are both on the in demand list, though.

In our area, home health and hospice agencies seem to be really looking for people with Med/Surg background (although not sure if they want ADN). And have you ever thought of dialysis? There's also flu clinics around now, which might be a good temporary job while you're seeking something else.

Oops, I just saw your latest post, so most of the post I just made is irrelevant. The job you interviewed for sounds like the insurance company wants you to do an assessment by asking the patient and/or family member questions. They may be assessing patient's functional abilities and cognitive abilities, for instance. Well, it is a job, and could be a way to get into another job working at an insurance company as a case manager, for instance. And you may be using critical thinking skills to figure out what type of help the person would need in their home.

You said it was at a home health care company. Can you be more specific: are you talking about private-duty homecare, where you care for 1 person for an entire shift in their home, or are you talking of make home health visits, like a visiting nurse? Those are entirely different types of nursing. If it's private-duty home health, and if they do orientations for every patient and also have a good support system for you, it may be entirely appropriate for a new grad. Since private-duty only gives you 1 patient at a time, you can do your homework on all their diagnoses and meds/treatments and can often "bounce off" your thoughts on the next shift's home care nurse, or the patient's family members if present (They know the patient best, and are often a great resource). (You could also call your supervisor in the office, or the patient's M.D. Worst case: there's always 911, if you think it's an emergent situation. 911 can assess the patient and let you know whether they think they need hospitalization). Since patients in private-duty care are usually quite stable, I don't see it being a big problem to have a new grad, as long as you have fairly good assessment skills and good support.

Thanks so much to the 3 who have taken the poll so far! 2 of you thought med/surg: I am not sure if I could actually get hired in a med/surg setting, since they may notice I never had med/surg experience before, and I would have heavy competition against both new grads and experienced nurses to get in the hospital door, but I do appreciate that med/surg, (even if it doesn't open a med/surg job), could open doors to jobs like visiting home health, clinics, possibly ambulatory surgical center, and care management, as well as giving IV med experience. However, not sure if it would give me enough experience with IV starting and phlebotomy. Some home health and clinic jobs really need you to be able to do that skill at least at an elementary level. One of you on the poll answered urgent care/ER as the best preceptorship. Now I'm wondering, which of these 2 settings would be better (urgent care or ER), if I'm not planning on actually working in ER? Would I get enough experience with IV starts in urgent care? I think that urgent care would be helpful to me in getting a school nurse job, clinic or urgent care job, phone triage, or home health position too; I'd like to get better at recognizing dermatological conditions (especially in school-age children), and in triage.

I'm not sure about whether no medical setting would hire you as an LPN or CNA due to liability issues. I have interviewed for an LPN position in the past, when I was an R.N., so some settings may be more willing to do this than others. Basically, you would have to agree to working in a lower position and acting within the bounds of that position, not in the bounds of an R.N. It's worth calling and asking them if they would do it. Some home health agencies, assisted living agencies, and LTC settings might be very desperate for a CNA/HHA or LPN and might be willing to do it. It's a great deal for them if you're able to take the lower salary.

This is a discussion on Which preceptorship to request to have best chance at getting hired? in Retired Nurses / Inactive Nurses, part of General Nursing ... I'm currently unemployed after spending 2 years in the nursing educator side of things (such as... by conscientiousnurse Oct 3 I'm currently unemployed after spending 2 years in the nursing educator side of things (such as being a CNA teacher). Finally I decided to take a nurse refresher course after trying unsuccessfully to get back in the clinical side of nursing. The course needs me to give it direction on which area of nursing I would prefer for my clinical preceptorship. I'd like to do what would help the most with getting another job. I have a bit of experience as a school nurse, and a few years' experience in a non-traditional office nurse setting, and pediatric private-dutyhome care, plus a bit of long-term care experience (the LTC is something I really disliked). Here are some of the ideas I have for a preceptorship: short-stay unit/ambulatory care surgical center, urgent care center, ER, primary care clinic, med/surg, acute care pediatric floor, ambulatory infusion clinic, or L&D/mother-baby. Very hard for me to figure out what would be best to do. I would love to be able to get a job that doesn't require weekends, which is why I'd like clinic, short-stay unit, school nurse, or perhaps a visiting home health type job if I could find one mostly M-F (or else try to get a supplemental position maybe in a hospital that doesn't require many weekends, if possible.) But I don't want to do a preceptorship too narrow that would limit my future possibilities. I also would love to be able to learn the skills like IV insertion, IV med administration, and phlebotomy, to open up future job prospects. (And I was thinking L &D because it might open possibilities both in an OB clinic, or in a hospital, or even something R/T short-stay surgery since L&D often does C-sections and their recovery. But, again, don't know if this is too narrow a field and not enough jobs). Overall, I don't tend to gravitate toward really exciting, fast-moving things like ER, but I figured I would get to see a wide variety of things by doing preceptorship there and could improve on triage skills/IV skills. Really, I just want the best way to open a job for me: and though I might like a clinic job, how do I know that I would really be good at that even if I was able to find a position? (By the way, I didn't mention getting a preceptorship in school nursingbecause I already know what that's about, and I feel like in order to continue in that line I would prefer to have more pediatric or urgent care experience). (I am also considering getting Master's in the future, perhaps as an ARNP, but not sure about that). Any ideas? Last edit by conscientiousnurse on 6:25 pm : Reason: Please move to "Nursing Job Search Assistance" forum for better response; also added something.

You mentioned having experience as a private home caregiver, and also being willing to try non-nursing jobs. Have you tried applying for a home health aide or CNA position? At least they would understand the reason behind an R.N. trying to apply for these positions, because after they see your job performance they may be able to hire you as an R.N. in the same company. And it is entirely reasonable that a home health agency, for instance, would be able to hire a new grad as a private-duty home care R.N., as long as they give an orientation for every client they put you with. In my state, these agencies do hire new grads. Also, have you gone the way of putting your resume on LinkedIn and trying to expand your network to reach more recruiters?

I'm currently unemployed after spending 2 years in the nursing educator side of things (such as being a CNA teacher). Finally I decided to take a nurse refresher course after trying unsuccessfully to get back in the clinical side of nursing. The course needs me to give it direction on which area of nursing I would prefer for my clinical preceptorship. I'd like to do what would help the most with getting another job. I have a bit of experience as a school nurse, and a few years' experience in a non-traditional office nurse setting, and pediatric private-duty home care, plus a bit of long-term care experience (the LTC is something I really disliked). Here are some of the ideas I have for a preceptorship: short-stay unit/ambulatory care surgical center, urgent care center, ER, primary care clinic, med/surg, acute care pediatric floor, ambulatory infusion clinic, or L&D/mother-baby. Very hard for me to figure out what would be best to do. I would love to be able to get a job that doesn't require weekends, which is why I'd like clinic, short-stay unit, school nurse, or perhaps a visiting home health type job if I could find one mostly M-F (or else try to get a supplemental position maybe in a hospital that doesn't require many weekends, if possible.) But I don't want to do a preceptorship too narrow that would limit my future possibilities. I also would love to be able to learn the skills like IV insertion, IV med administration, and phlebotomy, to open up future job prospects. (And I was thinking L &D because it might open possibilities both in an OB clinic, or in a hospital, or even something R/T short-stay surgery since L&D often does C-sections and their recovery. But, again, don't know if this is too narrow a field and not enough jobs). Overall, I don't tend to gravitate toward really exciting, fast-moving things like ER, but I figured I would get to see a wide variety of things by doing preceptorship there and could improve on triage skills/IV skills. Really, I just want the best way to open a job for me: and though I might like a clinic job, how do I know that I would really be good at that even if I was able to find a position? (By the way, I didn't mention getting a preceptorship in school nursing because I already know what that's about, and I feel like in order to continue in that line I would prefer to have more pediatric or urgent care experience). (I am also considering getting Master's in the future, perhaps as an ARNP, but not sure about that). Any ideas?

I agree that Lacey is a nice place to live. But it can be hard to find jobs here. Better to either get a job before moving, or else live closer to the King county area where it would be easier to find work. King County is still listed as "in demand" for RN jobs, whereas Thurston and it's surrounding counties, and also Pierce county, are both classifying R.N. jobs as "balanced" for jobs. If you're a very experienced R.N. with a BSN and great references, you might not have too much trouble getting a job here, but otherwise I'd hate to have you stuck with a house in Lacey, having to commute all the way to Seattle for work.

What will be helpful is that you have 5 years of hospital experience: that may indeed open doors. On the other hand, not having your BSN will be a drawback. According to the official sources I looked at through go2worksource, it turns out that the job market for RNs in Pierce County has gotten worse recently. R.N.s used to be on the "in demand" list, and now are on the "balanced" list. (Same thing happened in Thurston County). However, if you have problems getting hired in this county, it's encouraging that next door in King County R.N.s are still on the "in demand" list.

I would ditto what Dranger said. I am an experienced R.N. with a BSN (albeit, no hospital experience) and am having difficulty finding work. The "Thurston-Mason-Lewis" county area, and the Pierce county area, both are officially "balanced" for R.N.s regarding job openings: R.N.s are officially not on the "in demand" list here. However, King County is still in demand. So, you may have to either look further away, such as Federal Way, Renton, Bellevue, and Seattle, or else realize that you may have to start out in something less than your "dream" job. If you can get your foot in the door in any of the hospitals in this area, do it! Especially without having your BSN, it will more difficult than usual. Don't wait for an opening in NICU if you want it closer to home.

I hear where you're coming from. I also am exploring my options. What about asking all the nursing friends you have to tell you about their jobs (and looking on allnurses for "a day in the life" posts)? If you have one you're really interested in, you could try to get an informational interview. I will tell you, regarding private duty home health: It is nice to be able to focus on giving exceptional care to one patient, but remember that you will have no CNAs to help you, so it can sometimes be hard on the back if it's a large client with total care needs. Plus the pay is less, and you may find that certain families can be hard to work with. But it is less stressful than many other areas in nursing.

I started out in a SNF and did some school nursing later in my career. I think both jobs are quite challenging, but in different ways. I found the SNF was good experience, and I learned a lot, having the charge nurse to consult with as needed and learning from the shift reports. However, it is important to make sure you can handle the workload. Better to not have to pass meds to more than 25-30 patients unless you are faster than average or unless it's night shift. There are a lot more types of treatments and meds you will do in an SNF that you would not do as a school nurse, so it's a little closer to acute care than school nursing is. School nursing might be good if you don't feel comfortable with the workload at an SNF and if you have excellent support and orientation in the school. But I think it would be harder to give good, safe care as a school nurse than in an SNF, since you usually are the only nurse in the building. It requires a great deal of independence and excellent judgement. When in doubt in case of an urgent situation, better to call 911 for them to assess whether the person needs hospitalization (although I only ended up doing that once during my year as a school nurse).

I haven't taught in a community college, but in a 3-week private CNA school. There is always more than enough to do to keep busy. It sounds like you're mostly concerned about lab, so this is how I do it.: We teach the skills that they'll be tested on for the state CNA certification. (If I had more time, I would also teach other skills like collecting specimens, colostomy care, and others which you probably have in your book). What we do is demonstrate several skills, perhaps 6 or so for a 6-hour class. I try not to take more than about half the class time for demonstrations, either by myself or by students if it's at a later stage in the class. Then, we divide students up into groups of about 3 students each (sometimes 2, sometimes 4). These students then rotate through skills stations to learn all the skills. One of the students acts as "teacher" by correcting fellow students, one is the patient (if necessary), and one is the student practicing the skill. Actually, teaching others is an excellent way for the students to learn the skills. I rotate around to stations, correcting mistakes and answering questions, or doing a quicker re-demonstration of skills as necessary. At the end, after they've cleaned up, I usually talk to them about common mistakes made. If they're about to have a break of a couple days from class, I often assign students to demo a skill to fellow students on their return to class. If they do well, I check them off on that skill even during their demo. Then, it takes several days to do skills testings before they go to clinicals. While they're skills testing, I have the others do their practicing at skills stations. I try to make sure they're all practicing skills at this time. If not, I do a pep talk telling everyone why it's so important to practice many times over, since it's so easy to fail to state skills test. I also have told them I'd give people an extra assignment if they were found idle. (Like having to write out verbatim, what the steps were for a skill).