DemonWings

This may have mentioned before, but does your husband work every single day? Can you schedule your night to work before his day off? That way it wont interfere with his work schedule. He can wait to shower until you get up. I have a toddler and I guarantee you that I do, in fact, shower. Most of the time I do so with little eyes peering into the glass, but seriously....it can be done.

I don't remember which class it was, but a student said the patient had purulent discharge, but rather than purulent, the student uses the plural form of "pus". The teacher said to make sure never to document that word, confused the student asked why? She said "well spell it out loud for the class".

I know many people who misuse the ER, and I wonder why? I absolutely hate the ER (no offense ER nurses, you rock!) I just hate waiting. I have, unfortunately, been one of those silly moms once, and only once. I was putting baby latches on my kitchen cabinets and my two year old grabbed a screw (a small one but with a sharp point) and took off running. When I caught her, she shoved something in her mouth and I swear I thought it was the screw. I was a new mom, and I went into a panic thinking that screw was going to shred her from the inside out. I even got out an old metal detector and tried to see if it detect the screw in her belly. So we went to the ER and had X-rays done...no screw. I felt pretty silly for a long time ?

Yea it is scary being alone, maybe if the situation seems really bad, you can have someone go with you? I know we can have someone go along if we feel unsafe, usually one of the office secretaries.

I took pepper spray, you have to be cautious about dogs as well as people. I've been in some really run down homes, some sleazy motels, trailers that have no ventilation. I am pretty sure I had a bed bug jump on me too, or it might have been a flea...either way it gave me the creepy crawlies for the rest of the day. It's part of the territory unfortunately. I didn't know so many hoarders existed in my small town until I started in HH. You get used to it pretty quickly. I personally wouldn't take a taser with me. Good luck!

I have a tax attorney who I asked a lot of questions about this, because my husband and I didn't have access to insurance and we made too much to qualify for assistance. She said we could pay the fine of 95 (well 90 something I'm not sure if it's exactly 95) or we buy private insurance. We choose private because we all have medical issues and, like you, would be financially crippled should something happen. She did say that this is so new that they really don't know what will happen. I actually called the ACA people and they told me the same thing. They said they really don't know how exactly it's going to be enforced. After 2016 the fine will go up to around 1000-2500 per family max for being uninsured. Less if it's only one member of the family. We were absolutely devastated when we had to pay the huge medical bills, we were on one income at the time (very small, around 33K/year). But making small payments and using income tax towards it we eventually paid it off. Call private insurance companies and get quotes for the baby. Maybe you can somehow get coverage for the child with another insurer while you are waiting for open enrollment.

Obama care will only fine you 95 dollars this year, next year the fine goes up. It's not income related Can you not get private insurance for the baby through another carrier for the time being? It might cost quite a bit. Or you could find a pediatrician who takes cash payments and see if they will lower the amount since it's cash. I feel you on this, I had a child dropped without notifying me and that child happened to get sick and be hospitalized for 4 days AND have surgery. I had to put it on a credit card.

The affordable care act might have some reasonable rates if you are low income. I on the other hand have to pay 1150 out of pocket for Obamacare. So it's only affordable if you meet the income requirements. It's worth checking out though, I know some people who get great insurance through the ACA and it's very reasonable priced based upon their income.

I took mine three weeks after graduation, just used the ATI material we purchased first semester and the tips here on AN, passed first time. Information was still very fresh in my mind and I think that was beneficial :) good luck

You will only make money per visit if you have a lot per day and they are relatively close. I've had days where I don't even make 10 an hour due to drive time between patients. At my agency, I would make a heck of a lot more if I were to be hourly and actually chart at work getting paid. I work on average 6 hours a night on paperwork because I refuse to let it pile up. I can't handle having 20 open charts. Plus I pay more taxes bc in independent AND the mileage doesn't even cover gas expenses. I honestly don't know how anyone makes money doing this, unless they are seeing 10+ patients per day, which I will absolutely not do, I don't feel I can safely take on that many per day. Oh I work part time so I guess I could pull in more money if I did full time. My "part time" is more than 50 hours per week including drive time/chart time. Not willing to give more than that at this time.

I went into nursing school with no patient care or health care experience. I too felt behind the curve compared to my classmates. Calm down, you will get it. It took me many MANY times to get the sterile field technique down and it was such a simple task that I felt like an idiot. Remember, you will continue to make mistakes and that is Ok! For me, making those mistakes really ingrained in my brain what NOT to do in the future. Practice in skills lab and it will become second nature. The critical thinking will also come as you progress through your program.

5 years, but I had lots of kids while finishing pre-reqs so it slowed me down. And by lots of kids I mean two; sure felt like a lot at the time :)

Thanks that helps a lot. I feel as a new HH nurse I am always forgetting something along the way and can't wait until I have a nice flow down. I think that time management is Huge in this aspect of nursing.

I'll add that I typically do my assessment first, then continue with skilled care after, then complete my paperwork.

You obviously start with signing the consent. But what do you do first? Do you start with the OASIS, do all paperwork and then do vitals, ect? On a regular visit, say for wound care, do you start with the wound care immediately and then do your assessment or vice versa? I want to get a nice flow going with my visits and wanted to know how you guys do it, thanks :)