HHRN81

My orientation to home health was also 3 months and I was an experienced RN. I don't want to say that it can't be done, but it would be incredibly difficult. It would depend on the supportiveness of your management. Are they available when you are out in the field and have a question? Will they be checking in with you after orientation to see how things are going? Can you be assigned to a mentor of sorts to bounce things off of? I think the biggest challenge you will face as a new grad is not having had the opportunity for collaboration while developing your assessment skills. While your on orientation, make sure your preceptor is letting you do the assessing and then ask him/her about anything your not sure about while you're still in the patient's home. I would also check on the agencies method of orientation. If they are giving you 3 months, but not giving your preceptor and productivity credits for preventing you, your orientation probably isn't going to be very good or thorough because your preceptor will be stressed and rushed. Best of luck! Let us know how it goes!

Are you talking about home health (intermittent visits to several homes in a day) or private duty nursing (several hours with one patient)?

I like the autonomy, the one on one time with patients and the opportunity to be use critical thinking and come up with creative solutions to problems.

If she is competent and stable, how are you justifying 7 more weeks of visits? Sounds like you could discharge.

I think time management and learning how to work autonomously were my biggest challenges. Those and learning a new kind of nursing. I had to overcome a sense of loss of control. In an ICU setting you are in control of every aspect of patient care. You give them their meds, make sure that they are bathed, are routinely turning them and providing skin and oral care, etc. In the home health environment you are educating. Sure you provide wound care and other interventions, but once you walk out of their door you have no control over what they do (or don't do) to promote their own health. You have to be creative in figuring out what style and tools are going to best reach a patient. Your communication and interpersonal skills are vital to be able to make a genuine impact on helping people make lifestyle changes. When choosing an agency, I would look carefully at their productivity expectations, orientation time and if possible, shadow a nurse or get some employee feed back. Best of luck with your interviews!

I was a cardiac ICU nurse and transitioned to Home Health. I wouldn't say it is less stressful, but a different kind of stress. I think it all depends on the agency, so like the previous poster suggested, I would research agency expectations and follow a HH nurse if possible. I work for a hospital based agency and I'm paid hourly. This means that I am paid for my documentation time and get paid overtime if I go over my allotted 10 hour day. It is a completely different kind of nursing than hospital nursing. ICU provided me with a good background and good assessment skills which are huge assets in home health as the job is very autonomous. I can honestly say that I have found my niche in Home Health. It's definitely not for everyone, but for me it was the best transition I've ever made.

I'm sorry if I made you feel attacked or that I was questioning your nursing ability. This was not my intent! I should have just answered your original question. No, I don't think your agency would add more visits to your day if you were done seeing patients by 12. I do think that it would be incredibly difficult to finish the in home time and all the documentation that goes along with it by 5. As others have stated, most people will not let you come at 8. I have seen a lot of very competent and wonderful nurses get very discouraged with the amount of documentation that goes along with an admission. Besides the OASIS assessment, there are a multitude of other things to do on that first visit. Yes, all of our nurses can do a soc, but I'm the only one that does 2 in a day. 3 would leave me utterly exhausted and overwhelmed, but I'm not you. You may be able to do this with ease. I was just trying to give you some feedback from experience in this field. Like I said before, I really do wish the best for you. I absolutely love home health. Each day is an adventure, but when you are responsible for someone making even one small change to better their health, it is an amazing feeling.

I am the soc nurse for my agency. I love my job, but can't imagine trying to do it with no home health experience. I work a 10 hour day and my expectation is to do 2 soc and a routine visit. Each admit takes me 2-4 hours depending on what's going on. I'm in the home between 1.5-2 hrs. There is no way to compare an admission in the hospital to a home health admission. They are completely different. Like others have mentioned, I would be hesitant to take job with an organization that is hiring a doc nurse with no prior HH experience. Good luck to you, though! Home health has been, by far, the most rewarding and challenging job I have ever had.

Candy. Lots and lots of candy, especially the chewy, fruity kind.

Our productivity expectations are 5 points a day for an 8 hour shift and 6 points a day for a 10 hour shift. This is very realistic. We get a point if our daily mileage is over 60. We see a variety of different patients: wound care, picc maintenance, enteral feed education, foley cath maintenance, chf education, medication management etc. I would assume that each agency different regarding call and holidays. We rarely do routine visits on holidays. Very few people will allow us to come to there home on Christmas. We have hospice in our office too, so holidays are usually hospice patients and home health patients who must have visits. How many calls you get is going to depend on your census and patient population. The majority of calls we get are hospice. The calls that I routinely get for home health are Foley catheter issues or other trouble shooting things. Each day is different, so there's not anyway to predict how many calls you'll get.

I worked ICU nights before moving to home health. I've been working in home health for 4 years now and absolutely love it. I'm an admission nurse, so I don't have my own case load. I love the variety and flexibility. I love never knowing what I'm going to be walking into. Every day is an adventure. The charting is daunting. Our department has a 12 week orientation for nurses who are new to home health. It took me about a year before I was comfortable and felt efficient. I have 2 kids. I am able to take my oldest to school every morning and most days pick him up and finish charting at home. It's an autonomous job and that can be overwhelming for some people. You don't have someone right there to look at something with you. Best of luck!

I would look for something with a fast orientation time. Home health or hospice would not be good options as they require established assessment skills. My orientation to home health was 3 months. Best of luck to you!

I worked in critical care before moving to home health. I work for a hospital. We do intermittent visits. I don't have any agency experience to compare too, but I am paid hourly with the same benefits that I received in the hospital. I am an admit nurse, I don't case manage which is awesome. I have a ton of paperwork and charting, but I don't have the stress of the constant follow up that our case managers do. It is really hard to compare working in home health to working in ICU. Home health is not a cushy job. It requires good assessment skills and good attention to detail. Are you sure you will have holidays off? We are open 365 days a year and always have a nurse on call. I work 2-3 holidays a year and a weekend a month. I love the flexibility I have with home health. It has been great for the health of my family. I am lucky that our department has very realistic expectations for visit amounts and since we are paid hourly we do not have to donate our time. Best of luck to you!

We've been incredibly busy with an all time high census.

Geographic area: Washington state 34.00/hr which area / specialty do you work? Home Health/Hospice What type of license do you have (RN or LPN)? RN What type of degree and/or certification do you have? ADN How many years of experience do you have? 7 years Are you full-time, part-time, or casual / per diem / PRN status? Full time What shift do you work? 4 10 hr days/ week Do you receive any shift differential? $2.00/hr weekend Are you a manager or supervisor? NO