Thinking about making the switch to home health...

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I've been a nurse in med-surg for nearly 3 years now. I work 12hr night shifts 3 days a week at a small hospital. I recently just had my 3rd child and I'm thinking I need a little more structure at home. I'm looking for an 8-5 job, a job that allows me to do hw with my children and have dinner with my children and put them to bed. A job that will allow some flexibility to squeeze in a school activity in between pts. I love m/s but I'm sad that it doesn't give me the family structure that my children need at this crucial time in their life. Am I being unrealistic thinking that a Case Manager position in home healthcare will give me what I'm looking for?

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Specializes in LTC, home health, critical care, pulmonary nursing.

Ya know, I see posts all the time on here about how dreadful home health is, but I absolutely love it. If you are with a good agency, it's awesome. I don't have kids, but I have a coworker who sees her patients and then goes home to chart where she can be with her kids. I'm sure there's a lot of distractions at home, but it works for her. I almost never work past 1600, and that includes patients and charting and coordinating. It's SO much easier and less stressful than floor nursing. I'm sure there are people who would disagree with me, but I love it.

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Lovingtheunloved, thank you for the reply! I've seen those posts too and that's what makes me think maybe I'm being unrealistic about HH.

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Specializes in LTC, home health, critical care, pulmonary nursing.

I think a lot of it has to do with WHERE you work. Go with an agency that pays per hour, not per visit. I'm lucky to work for an awesome agency. One of the biggest perks is that everyone gets along and there's never any drama, because you're never around each other long enough to get on each other's nerves!

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I love home health !!!... very flexible... you can do many things between patients .. I get paid per patient which is awesome.. There is a lot of things u get to experience in home care.... I have never worked in a hospital but, I know nurses get burned out quick .. wish u the best .. hope u try it out....

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Yanarn83, thank you for the reply! I actually have an interview next week and I'm really hoping to get the job, I think I'll really enjoy it!

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You need to be flexible, not mind working alone, not mind driving a lot, and not mind going into strangers' homes.

I absolutely loved home health, but sometimes I just wanted to have a lunch with other people.

You cannot let yourself get distracted by family members who have nothing to do with your patient, and teach those who do.

And not every house is particularly clean - some are overrun with uninvited, multilegged company.

And there will be on-call, as well. And week-end work, too.

Again, I loved it, loved all the teaching, enjoyed the autonomy. Wound care was a big part of my job, and I always seemed to be drawing blood on somebody!

Best wishes, I hope you enjoy your new future!

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You need to be flexible, not mind working alone, not mind driving a lot, and not mind going into strangers' homes.

I absolutely loved home health, but sometimes I just wanted to have a lunch with other people.

You cannot let yourself get distracted by family members who have nothing to do with your patient, and teach those who do.

And not every house is particularly clean - some are overrun with uninvited, multilegged company.

And there will be on-call, as well. And week-end work, too.

Again, I loved it, loved all the teaching, enjoyed the autonomy. Wound care was a big part of my job, and I always seemed to be drawing blood on somebody!

Best wishes, I hope you enjoy your new future!

thank you Merlee for the reply. I certainly don't mind working alone, driving a lot or going into strangers homes :) I hope it all works out and I soon become a HH nurse ;)

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Specializes in OB/GYN/Neonatal/Office/Geriatric.

I did home health for 2 months and went running back to the hospital begging for my old job. I blame the bad experience on the agency as they were a start up and I was 1 of 2 nurses. I spent hours at home doing paperwork, hated that I didn't really have peers to work with, and would have as many as 14 (!) patients to see in one day. I suggest you speak to people you trust that are working in HH and find out what's good and bad where they work. Home health is much more competitive now so hopefully they are better to work with. Good Luck!

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I did home health for 2 months and went running back to the hospital begging for my old job. I blame the bad experience on the agency as they were a start up and I was 1 of 2 nurses. I spent hours at home doing paperwork, hated that I didn't really have peers to work with, and would have as many as 14 (!) patients to see in one day. I suggest you speak to people you trust that are working in HH and find out what's good and bad where they work. Home health is much more competitive now so hopefully they are better to work with. Good Luck!

That's HORRIBLE!!! I've talked to someone in the agency I'm interviewing in and she did say you're either going to love HH or just completely hate it and I've definitely been finding that to be true with the posts that I've read. She also said that there is quite a bit of charting and that drives a lot of nurses away but she said once you get the hang of it all it isn't too bad. I just hope I'm one that loves it and even if at first I don't I'm definitely going to stick with it for a year before I decide it's definitely not for me. Thank you for your reply :)

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Specializes in Surgery Pre/Post.

I really like it. My agency allows us to set our own hours, we are paid per visit. Ot works wonderfully for me as I am not a morning person & my daughter who is 10 months old doesn't have to be woken up at 6 in the morning to go to daycare. We get up and go at our own pace.

The charting will be overwhelming at first. I still feel swamped at times, but I have been doing this for 4 months now & am getting alot faster recently. I love that I can chart when I am at home after the baby is in bed.

The biggest challenge for me has been prioritizing my work. It was so easy for me to get all my visits done & go pick up my daughter, but then I was up all hours trying to catch up. So if I am out doing visits & get home at 2, I will chart for 2 hours & then pick up little one.

The flexibility will keep me here for years. Especially when my kids are in school and have activities.

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I really like it. My agency allows us to set our own hours, we are paid per visit. Ot works wonderfully for me as I am not a morning person & my daughter who is 10 months old doesn't have to be woken up at 6 in the morning to go to daycare. We get up and go at our own pace.

The charting will be overwhelming at first. I still feel swamped at times, but I have been doing this for 4 months now & am getting alot faster recently. I love that I can chart when I am at home after the baby is in bed.

The biggest challenge for me has been prioritizing my work. It was so easy for me to get all my visits done & go pick up my daughter, but then I was up all hours trying to catch up. So if I am out doing visits & get home at 2, I will chart for 2 hours & then pick up little one.

The flexibility will keep me here for years. Especially when my kids are in school and have activities.

Thank you Erika.RN for the reply! I'm definitely aware of the all the charting, that is all I hear from HH nurses! I'm sure with time it'll be just be a piece of cake, I'm hoping! :) As long as this job allows me to work with my kids schedule I think I'll be happy :)

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