RNFL1991

I was intrigued, too, after reading this post. The website isn't really clear on what they do, which makes it not sound legit, in my opinion. No hands on care? But you're there to keep the patient out of the hospital? I don't get it. What do you actually do?

well her sutures have been in for a looooong time as well, and I was wondering about that but she was supposedly following up with the doctor except now I found out she only has been seeing the oncologist NOT the surgeon, so the sutures are still in. Now I'm worried that I missed something and should have called the doc long ago Also didn't know the cath has something that keeps it from coming out....??

Maybe this is a dumb question. But I have rarely cared for a patient in the home with a chest tube. Now I have a Pleurx that we are draining weekly. The kind you hook up to the bottle and drain it, then change the dressing. The dressing is occlusive. My question is, how long can the patient have the tube in? I am told it can be in for months. And what about the sutures? Do they just stay in indefinitely even if the tube is in long term?

I am salary and I see 6-8 patients a day. I have a productivity of 30 per week. I don't even work 40 hours. I guess I have it good compared to some people.

RN case manager: About $64,000 salary. Plus extra for on call time (approx 3 nights per month at $30 each night and more for each visit I do on call), mileage, and anything over my required weekly productivity. I have over 22 years experience as an RN, and that's factored into the pay scale where I work.

I would refuse to see this patient. I do not have to go where I feel unsafe. The end.

I can't answer all of your questions because I don't know a lot about hospice, but I'm a home health nurse and I can tell you that the goal of HHC is to keep patients in their home (not in the hospital, nursing home, etc) while also making sure they are SAFE in their home. Hospice is palliative, as you mentioned. I don't know about hospice pay but I do know that HHC (in Florida at least) as an RN case manager pays much better than the hospital. As far as territory, I believe most agencies try to make the areas manageable, but some are better than others with that. I'm lucky because my territory is right where I live, and most days I stay in that area. But I've known some nurses who had to drive a lot farther than I would want to. I think most places want to make it manageable because even though they don't provide the vehicles, they pay mileage. Also, I would think patient satisfaction would be a consideration at most companies. If you're driving too far between patients, you can't manage your day and you'll be late for the scheduled appointment times.