So I start my first home health job (travel nurse) next week...

Specialties Home Health

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Hi, y'all. I'd like advice, please. I start Monday (October 5) in my first home health nursing job, and it will be as a travel nurse, so they'll expect me to learn quickly. What's your advice on how to succeed as home health nurse?

(My background: 11 years as a nurse, 9 of them medical-surgical; 2 years as travel nurse. I haven't worked in hospital since 2018; my last year of nursing has been private duty/home care, which is mostly unskilled nursing, working with trach/quadriplegic patient in his home.)

 

The interviewer said they do lots of wounds (PAD, PVD,, diabetic), also some post-orthopedic surgery follow-ups, some Foleys and PICC lines...so I'm reviewing those topics. Any advice along the lines of "what I wish I knew before I went into home health nursing"? How to be organized, how to work with people in their homes, time management, working with patient non-compliance or suboptimal education/home conditions, etc?

 

Thank y'all, God bless. ?

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Specializes in Community/ Home Health.

Hi there, congrats on the job!

I live in Canada, and things are different here in home care nursing. I am not sure where you are from, but I just mention that because it seems there are many US home care nurses on here ?

Here are some of my organizational go-tos that I find helpful-

I would suggest carrying a notebook with dividers and writing down everything in one book in different sections! Supply ordering items, important numbers, physician numbers/ faxes. I always write my patients info down daily (addresses and phone numbers) in case I am in an area where I cant pull this info up. I phone patients as I work.

Carry extra shoes with you. And socks. Heck, maybe an extra set of clothes just in case. I wear rubber boots in some places where I am afraid of picking up bugs.

Get a trunk organizer! Oh and a bag you can wear on your back so you don't have to place anything on potentially unkempt floors/  furniture

Keep snacks and water in your trunk! have an extra phone charger or two with you. If you have harsh winters where you are, keep warm clothes, a shovel and cat litter in your car!

Get a huge road mug for coffee too!

Good luck to you ?

 

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4 hours ago, poko said:

Hi there, congrats on the job!

I live in Canada, and things are different here in home care nursing. I am not sure where you are from, but I just mention that because it seems there are many US home care nurses on here ?

Here are some of my organizational go-tos that I find helpful-

I would suggest carrying a notebook with dividers and writing down everything in one book in different sections! Supply ordering items, important numbers, physician numbers/ faxes. I always write my patients info down daily (addresses and phone numbers) in case I am in an area where I cant pull this info up. I phone patients as I work.

Carry extra shoes with you. And socks. Heck, maybe an extra set of clothes just in case. I wear rubber boots in some places where I am afraid of picking up bugs.

Get a trunk organizer! Oh and a bag you can wear on your back so you don't have to place anything on potentially unkempt floors/  furniture

Keep snacks and water in your trunk! have an extra phone charger or two with you. If you have harsh winters where you are, keep warm clothes, a shovel and cat litter in your car!

Get a huge road mug for coffee too!

Good luck to you ?

 

Hey, Poko, thank you! I hadn't thought about the  car trunk organizer or the divided notebook. Sounds like things I'll be glad for! ? 

 

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How's your assignment going, OP?

 

I'm working home health, first travel contract, myself.

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On 11/29/2020 at 2:40 PM, NevadaFighter said:

How's your assignment going, OP?

 

I'm working home health, first travel contract, myself.

Oh, hi! Sorry for late reply! Anyway - my assignment went well enough! (I actually am in my last couple weeks of the same assignment - I re-upped twice, so I'll wind up working about 8 months total, with just that one job!)

Anyway, the first few weeks was hellish. I was new to home health, and new to the charting, and...anyway! I got past it, and now I'm self-educating to get a new contract for a new job. Just finished online OASIS training, and I'm considering doing online HCHB training. All at my own expense, but they'll open up lots of new jobs for me near my home field of Atlanta.

How's YOUR assignment going, NevadaFighter? (Cool name)

Maria

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On 5/23/2021 at 7:15 PM, allthesmallthings said:

Oh, hi! Sorry for late reply! Anyway - my assignment went well enough! (I actually am in my last couple weeks of the same assignment - I re-upped twice, so I'll wind up working about 8 months total, with just that one job!)

Anyway, the first few weeks was hellish. I was new to home health, and new to the charting, and...anyway! I got past it, and now I'm self-educating to get a new contract for a new job. Just finished online OASIS training, and I'm considering doing online HCHB training. All at my own expense, but they'll open up lots of new jobs for me near my home field of Atlanta.

How's YOUR assignment going, NevadaFighter? (Cool name)

Maria

Thanks for sharing your story. I’m glad you’re into it. 
 

May I ask if you would recommend first doing online Oasis training to someone making a move from the hospital to home health with no Oasis experience? 

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On 6/15/2021 at 1:19 PM, Anonymous666 said:

Thanks for sharing your story. I’m glad you’re into it. 
 

May I ask if you would recommend first doing online Oasis training to someone making a move from the hospital to home health with no Oasis experience? 

In answer to your question ("Do you recommended online OASIS training"): yessss, kind of....

(Short horror story here: yes, I paid $500 for rctc OASIS training, which was definitely good because I wasn't going in with "stupid face" to OASIS. However, I just got let go from the travel nurse home health job that hired me, because they were expecting me to know OASIS off the bat. There was some miscommunication - the interviewer, who is not a nurse and who was new to his job, thought that OASIS was no biggy, I could just call in to the manager with quick questions - yeah, that's not how it works. You do actually need some on-the-job training with OASIS. So, now I'm looking for a new home health job, either in travel nursing with the understanding that I'll negotiate a lower pay package in exchange for somebody precepting me in OASIS; or just a regular, full-time position as home health nurse, where I'll get a full orientation.)

Anyway: if you're going into one of those full-time positions (which, from your allnurses.com posts, it doesn't look like you are), then you might skip it, because they'll train you, anyway. But it will make you look better to an interviewer, and cut your learning curve in on-the-job OASIS training, if you've done online OASIS training. If you're going into a part-time position, then it will help, too, because they might not (?) want to spend too much time training you. 

If you're going into travel nursing (I don't think you are?), then online OASIS training won't cut it JUST BY ITSELF, no sirree, unless you get a job with the clear understanding that you'll get some preceptorship in OASIS. It's like just learning nursing or Foley insertion from a textbook, without doing clinicals or on-the-job training.  But shelling out the dough for online OASIS training can help you cut that "no job, no experience / no experience, no job" chasm. No guarantees, of course - as you probably know, with travel nursing, they pretty much expect you to already know stuff! ?

Take care ?

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