abbie0

[h=2]Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center: https://patienteducation.osumc.edu/Pages/Home.aspx[/h]

They aren't doing good work if they are doing that. Don't compare yourself to workaholics. Just do what you are comfortable with. Take care of yourself.

Pacifica Health & Medical does some of the staffing for Scripps in San Diego and has staffed some new grads at various hospitals. http://www.pacificamedical.com/

Pacifica Medical & Home Health!!

I raised 2 boys while being a home health nurse, I know what it is like if you are overloaded. Some agencies I worked at tried to work me to death, so I learned to say no. I have several nurses who want to do less than 10 visits a week. I have some nurses who want every patient they can get. I let my nurses tell me what they can to do. Of course it is PPV work so they have the luxury of getting things done. We are a hospital staffing agency, and do wellness and flu clinics as well. So I have access to extra staff if I need them when my regular nurses are too busy. We even staff other home health agencies with therapists. Our nurses who want to do a full day do about 1 SOC a day, and 2-3 other visits. Most home health nurses can do that in an 8 hour day. The way I always did my work was to spend 4-5 hours seeing patients, go home pop in a movie and finish up my SOC & paperwork. Most of the time I could do it in 8 hours. I became the SOC nurse at many places that I worked, and did 2-3 SOC's a day and then had 5 hours to finish the paperwork. I like planning care. Pacifica has been a great company for me, because we all want a peaceful way of life. I try to help the nurses simplify the way they are doing things so it is less stressful, but everyone has to find their own rhythm.

MRSA/VRE patient who thought it was funny to urinate into the air and let it rain down on anyone who came in the room.

I did Diabetic earthquake/ 72 hour emergency kits, lots of props and posters helped the jitters.

By the way KUDOS on the review!!

I started off in the hospital, and then went to home health. I have to say that I developed more skill in home health than I ever did in the hospital. EKG, Home Infusion of Abx, Dobutamine, Lasix, IVIG, etc. Every kind of pump and tube, wound, & diagnosis imaginable. It always makes me laugh when I hear people talk about going to the hospital to keep up skills. Maybe in Med Surg, but mostly the care is so specialized that you do the same things over and over. I found the hospital monotonous when I worked the Cardiac Stepdown Unit, Psych was interesting, but even that is better in the home setting of a patient. Of course hospitals don't see it that way, they want assembly line speed, but even the patients in the hospital want quality care as well, and there is only so much quality available in 15 minutes.

I have been a Home Health Nurse for 18 years, and to do a good job for the patient the typical day for an RN is 1 intake and 3-4 other visits. Some nurses want to work long hours to make more money, but I left the hospital to have more connection with my patients, to manage their care plan and to have better job satisfaction. In spite of the paperwork, I have enjoyed Home Health very much. I work now as a director of an agency in San Diego, and I miss being in the field with my patients, but I really enjoy the great comradere in the office with the nurses. I don't want to lose site of what is good about Home Health by turning it into a patient mill. I know some of our nurses want a lot of visits, to make more money. I think that is fine if they are doing good case management, but I would have burned out long ago if I hadn't stuck to these more reasonable visit ratios. I judge how many patients a nurse can manage by the quality of care given and the documentation. Some can do 3 a day, some can do 6, but I have never seen good care from a nurse who consistently does 7-8 visits a day. I would rather see a nurse know her limits and practice good self care, for the sake of the nurse, the agency and the patient.