Scared to leave hospital for home health

caliotter3 · Jul 31, 2010

You can find everything you addressed in your post discussed quite often in the home health forum. Many people keep their hospital jobs and work part time or on the weekend in home health for extra income. You might want to consider a trial part time schedule until you are certain you can be happy with the home health area.

Blackheartednurse · Aug 1, 2010

I have been working as a home health nurse for a month and a half now.I originally planned to work in a hospital after graduation (May 2009) but the market crashed so I was forced to look somewhere else.To make it clear it was not in my plan to work home health care (especially being a new grad) but now I do and I like it,it is stressful at times but it is a different kind of stress.There are prons and cons to it like to any job.Things that I like about home health nursing;being independent,slower pace,no weekends,evening,nights (although my cell phone is always available to my patients), ability make up my own schedule,patients are usually more stable in home health care,interaction with patients and getting to know them more on a personal level (like they show you their pictures,reveal some personal stuff),time to actually teach patients,pay is not bad;50 dollars per visit which usually last 45-to an hour,for an admission I get 65 but it takes like 2 sometimes 3 hours (depends on situation),no bosses around,charting at home.What I dont like is;a lot of admission papework (osasis like 20 pages),constant driving,no health insurance,patients come and go so you must admit,readmit or discharge patients and never see them again,going into bad neigborhood,going to someone else home and dont know what to expect (living conditions,family members).Patients in home health care tend to be less timid and more bossy than in hospital,after all they are at home and they have the right to tell you to leave in the middle of admission or during regular visit,they usually stable and dont desperatelely need your service to survive so they migh have a little attitude,being often on the phone (even after hours) with bosses,doctors and even the patient themselves,coordinating the whole care;making sure the physical therapy is coming (and it really **** you off when the physical therapist thinks the patient doesnt need a therapy and you think he does-I find communicating with other health team members as a big challenge,at times I feel I'm the only ones who cares!,doctors calling you back after 3 hours or appointing their nurses to speak with me (90% of time I talk with their office nurse),lastly non-compliant patients who think just because they are at home they dont need their meds,neglect that you see-family members are too lazy to take their dad or mom to the hospital for a check up or to refill their meds,poor patients who cant afford good meds.But believe or nor I'm learing a lot but it is not for everyone.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Aug 1, 2010

moved to our home health nursing forum... look around at stickied threads.

twokidsmom,rn · Aug 1, 2010

I became a RN May 2008, worked on a med surg floor for 18 months, which was 3 nights a week. Then found a job that was full time nights, that became too much, very hard on me and my family. I am now in home health, the schedule is GREAT no nights or weekends. I actually have 2 days off in a row EVERY week! I get paid 35/visit and 65/oasis. I am concerned about the money but my family is much happier and I am actually getting 6-8 hrs of sleep a night! My day has been starting at the office seeing what my nurse manager wants me to do and getting my clients paperwork and calling them to setup an appt. I have been doing Sup visits mostly. We hand in our paperwork first thing on Mon AM. I usually end my day at the office too. I am still trying to figure out paperwork and what they expect as far as notes go. The other nurses that I work with have worked for them for years. My manager reads all notes and is known to give them back to nurses to address things they might have missed. I expect to get most of mine back. I think home health is great but like every job it not perfect. I hope once I find my style it will be even better.

nicole109 · Aug 1, 2010

I was an RN for 5 years on a Neuro floor before making the switch to home care, and I worked all of the shifts, even weekend option. This was the best career move that I could have made for my family, hands down. When you interview, I would encourage you to ask for a share day with an experienced home health nurse, one that can answer your questions throughout the day and really show you the ropes. I was already doing PRN home health, so I already kinda had an idea of what I was getting myself into--but I would highly recommend a share day, especially if you are still uneasy. I can't say enough about the scheduling flexibility, it's amazing. There is a lot of paperwork, and it's taken me quite awhile to get myself into a good rhythm of balancing visit time and documentation time, but I absolutely love the variety of patients and the time that I have to spend with them!