helpinghands

Home health usually involves case management and you don't need case mgmt experience to get the job. I'm sure any agency would love to hire a nurse with 24 years experience! It could be a great way to get case mgmt experience that could open a lot of doors in the future. Good luck with your job search!

It wasn't just the pt care, it was all the other things mentioned. I think I could have dealt with the nasty pts/families/MD's if I didn't feel like I was always surrounded by chaos. Seemed like I was always surrounded by people who were also just hanging by their finger nails. It always amazed me how disorganized the hospitals were. Morale was always low with 1/2 the staff wanting to quit. The atmosphere was toxic, turn over frequent. I'm tired, burnt out, and of course my back hurts. I've been a nurse for 4 years and I feel it has aged me 10. There were many times I felt like shredding my license and mailing it back to the BON. (seriously) Thanks everyone for your kind words. It feels so liberating to get all of this off my chest!

That pretty much sums up my experience with nursing. Seems like every small task turned into a huge challenge. I've been cussed out, hit, kicked, splashed with every imaginable body fluid and exposed to all sort viruses and bacteria. I've worked at 3 different hospitals and 1 home health office. Each has been miserable in their own unique way. Time to move on from pt care, I have found it to be very frustrating, stressful and at times depressing. I just excepted an office position with an insurance company and I think it's going to be a great fit. I was an office manager prior to becoming a nurse and miss the office atmosphere. No more on call, weekends or holidays! I found this site prior to nursing school and remember reading all the rant posts with nurses leaving the bedside. I never imagined I would be joining them. I also never could of imagined how bad the atmosphere and conditions in which nurses have to work. Hats off to all of you who do and somehow manage to enjoy it!

Mileage is killing me! Most of my patients are far away and I don't get reimbursed for the trip to my first visit or from my last. To make things worse we just got bought by another company and they reduced or mileage rate! :angryfire I'm looking for a new job out of HH and the cost of gas is definitely one of the contributing factors. 25% of my income is going into my gas tank.

The owner has also unexpectedly retired, can't be a good sign. Seems like things are sliding down hill and picking up speed. Dusted off my resume and already have a few interviews scheduled.

I've been with my HHA for a little over a year. The agency has just been bought by another and there have been a few policy changes. First was all nurses have to take call. Before per-diem didn't have. Also, they will no longer provide cell phones. This is the first agency I've worked for and I'm wondering what other agencies are like. Do per-diem usually have on call duties and do most agencies supply cell phones? It's been a long bumpy road with this agency and I think it may be time to move on to the next. They also just REDUCED our mileage reimbursement! :angryfire

DutchgirlRN, I really hope things work out for you. I had read alot of your post before the changes took place at your office, and they inspired me to try HH before giving up on nursing completely. Now I have a HH job I LOVE. Wishing the same for you!

You can PM me.

Usually the techs are doing vitals at the beginning of the shift, so I just follow behind them. We also have to do a second assessment at 3am. I try to coincide this one with the 3am VS and labs draws. If they are a new admit I warn them about this so it isn't such shock when it happens. If they are expecting it, it doesn't seem to bother them quite as much.

Had a pt that was near the end of his time. The family had called in the long lost son so everyone called say their final goodbye. After about an hour yelling from the room, everyone ran to the room to find the son unresponsive on the floor. Code was not successful, and the father passed 8 hours later. It was believed that the son had a massive brain aneurysm.

Here they are: http://www.nurse.com/ce/course_category.html?CID=6

Were the applications in person or online? If online you could follow up with a phone call to make sure they received your application. I'm brand new to home health and had trouble getting call backs at first. What I did was take a few online home health CEU courses and added those to my resume. I also learned a lot doing them, which helped in interviews. Good luck on your job search!

I worked with a nursing student a few times that has a disability. He only has the upper portion of one of his arms. It was amazing to watch him work. Foley's, IV's, dsg changes, luer lock IV tubing. He was fast too, not the fastest, but who knows with more time. You can do it! Go for it!

The position that I applied for was HH Hospice. I've had several interviews in the past week for HH put I'm feeling pulled by one of the hospice angencies. Interview went great, lasted for 2 hours. When I was asked why hospice. I spoke a lot about 2 pt I had that passed recently, and that I felt this was the best nursing I had done. Well, when I went into work the family sent a note for the staff and a special thx to Nancy nurse, and to myself. Here's my question: would it be inappropriate or too pushy to make it available to her, before she makes her final decision?

I have no problem with people taking a nap if its out of sight and someone is covering their pts. My big issue is that it's at the nursing station. In full sight of other staff, patients and the patients family. It can't be reassuring to family members to see a staff member wrapped in a blanket and sleeping at the nursing station. As to waking them up. If they are needed for something I don't hesitate, but alot of people just cover for them. It's just accepted. The director, chargre nurses, dr's ect... have all seen it, nobody raises an eyebrow.