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Discussion

question

i know someone who was recently sick and hospitalized, now that they're home the family wants a nurse to be there a couple hours during the day. However, this wouldn't be an official "job" through an agency, so it wouldn't actually be nursing..no meds, no skilled nursing tasks ect..

It would basically be that I'm there to "babysit" this person. But is it safe/ok to take this offer??

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    • Featured Replies

    • Experts

    This would depend upon your assessment of the family, the patient's condition, your ability to manage any problems, and the overall "feel" you get about this. There should be no problem just based on a couple of hours of contact during the day. The family probably just wants some respite time, maybe time to run to the store or take a nap. Talk with them and make certain you know all of the details before you decide.

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    My inital reaction would be no, there are too many questions, if they just want a babysitter there, then that is who they should hire, they have unliscensed caregivers for hire. if they want a nurse then they need to hire a nurse, unless you know this family really well and are close and expectations are clear then I wouldn't.

    They want someone there to babysit who is a nurse?

    Would they hold you liable if something went wrong? Would you be there as a nurse or a babysitter? What would there job expectations be? Would it be similar to private nursing? Why are they are they not using an agency?

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    • Author

    I actually don't really know the family yet, they are friends of a friend..

    I'm ok with just "babysitting as nurse" my only concern is what if there is a code situation or other emergency..I don't believe I can act on it as a nurse because I'm not officially working as a nurse(under my license)? I'm not sure if something like that could go against my license??

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    • Experts

    Based upon your last post, do not take the position. There is no clear delineation of responsibilities, you speak of no written contract, and you would be placing your license in jeopardy. I can assure you that although the family may say everything to reassure you that this is a nonmedical position, should there be a medical emergency or problem, they will not hesitate to attack your license. After all, accountability is one of the advantages of getting a licensed professional to accept a "nonmedical" position.

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    • Author

    That's what I wasn't sure of..if working privately would still go against my license. Thanks for clarifying that for me :) Some extra money is not worth risking my license!!

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    • Experts

    Private duty and home health nurses are frequently sued. They are often easier targets than those who work in facilities. After all, who is there to back you up when things start to go south?

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    I actually don't really know the family yet, they are friends of a friend..

    I'm ok with just "babysitting as nurse" my only concern is what if there is a code situation or other emergency..I don't believe I can act on it as a nurse because I'm not officially working as a nurse(under my license)? I'm not sure if something like that could go against my license??

    What would you do differently in a code or emergency if you were assigned there as a nurse by an agency vs. being a private babysitter vs. just randomly being in the home as a guest? Lots of people hire nurses independently and private pay and there are threads on here about that.

    I used to get lots of requests to babysit medically fragile kids when I was much younger because I loved special needs kids, had lots of classroom experience and was a paramedic. A paramedic license is not the same in all states but it can be suspended and permanently revoked and that can destroy my livelihood. But I wasn't operating as a paramedic. I was operating as a person that was privately trained on that kid's medical equipment by the parent. In an emergency, I only had access to what was in the home and wouldn't have done anything differently if I was a well-trained non-paramedic vs. being a paramedic except for possibly giving better info to the 911 dispatcher. One of the moms that I babysat for was a lawyer and she actually had researched this very issue. Granted, this was in the mid-90s and I have no idea how things may have changed.

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    I agree with ventmommy.

    If an emergecny happens you'll be fine as long as you respond as someone with your license would/should. If you are out somewhere and not "on the job" and an emergency happens you are required by law to respond. Your license would only be in jeopardy if you didn't do what you were supposed to. You won't have a crash cart there, so you aren't expected to run a code with that. But if the patient crashed a reasonable expectation would be to call 911/start CPR and continue until help arrived. Your license wouldn't be at risk for that.

    The bigger concern would be finding out the details of the case and seeing if its a good fit for you and the family.

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