What Are The Ups And Downs Of Home Care?

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I have been an LPN for a year now. I worked @ a nursing home straight out of school and I hated it so much I didn't think I wanted to be a nurse. I worked per diem @ an assisted living facility and felt worthless. I now work for another home and I hate it for so many reasons. I love my patients and would do anything for them just as with the other nursing home. Home care was suggested to me. I want to try it but I want to know the ups and downs before I leave my current job. Can anyone help me or point me in the right direction for info? Thanx

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Hello, I am also an LPN and work HHC. I am however not in the field. I work in the office dealing with the insurance companies. I can tell you not all home health agencies are the same. Some are good some are terrible. You will see a varitiey of patients from simple diabetic instructions to wound care to IV's. As an LPN in Fl anyway you cant case manage. Our LPN sees patients for RN's and reports back to them. She writes up her note, but she doesnt write case reports or case manages. It is alot easier than what the RN does. It is stressful, but if you are with a good agency that supports their field staff you will me ok. Critical thinking is a must, you dont have another nurse near by to ask questions that is why most HH agency requires 1 year experience...

hope this helps good luck :bow:

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Specializes in IM, FP, Psych, EH, Admin,.

My experience with Home Health Care was good. I only worked part time but I really enjoyed the one on one time I got to spend with each patient. For the most part, what I did was follow up care on post surgical patients, wound care, and diabetic monitoring. The thing that I liked the most was that it was a more relaxed situation. You aren't being pulled several different directions. You had a certain task for each patient and when you are in that patient's home you are dealing only with them. This provided the perfect situation to do patient teaching and you build a trust with the patient where they will tell you things that they sometimes wouldn't tell their physicians.

The things that I didn't like were the travel and wear and tear on my vehichle, but you do get paid mileage for your travel; and going into some remote or not necessarily safe areas without anyone else there. Of course you will encounter some homes that are well less than sanitary, but you can always look at that as an opportunity to do some teaching. I had a great experience with the agency that I worked for. I would recommend that you talk to some of the nurses in your community and ask them which one they would consider working for because they are not all as well organized as the one that I worked for. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

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Dear Nurse84,

I have been in home care for 3 years and I really enjoy it!! I like the one on one interaction and the pace is slower. You do not have to answer another call bell while you are concentrating on your client. You get to know your client and their family. I have also worked 6 years at a nursing home, while I was doing the home care. Check the agencies in the area and ask if you can speak to a few nurses who work for them. Good luck and let us know how you are doing. :yeah:

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Specializes in Long-term Care; Geriatrics; Pediatrics.

SOUNDS LIKE DA STORY OF MY CAREER:

  1. A NURSE FOR 1YR
  2. WORKED IN LTC straight out of school (hated it)
  3. Now doing in Home (good transition)

Well they all have their pros and cons. In home seems less demanding to me... But... The pts family can make your job so much harder than what it really is. At the facilities your only concern is the pts & CYA... Whereas in home you gotta worry about the pt, family members, getting the work, and most of all CYA (because the family may be use to doing things their way but as a nurse you have to be more by the book).

Just remember (if you decide to do in home care): You can always get another patient/case, but you can never get you license back once its gone... So always CYA (cover your a...)!!

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Home Health, LTC.

I really love doing home care. I started ( 1999) in long term care for 8 weeks after graduation. Went to acute care, Med-Surg for 5 yrs and in ways I really loved it..a small rural but busy hospital. Learned a lot.

But then I went to home care. I worked for a well known agency, had great experiences mostly, a few assignments I did not care for so did not stay on the case.

I think the agency you work with will affect your satisfaction more than any other one thing.

Family dynamics...an important part. When someone is ill, family members can go through many emotions, there can be power plays between family members and attempts to involve you. Sometimes one of the family can be very controlling and will ask you to do or not do something that you know is not in best interest of patient.

To sum it up...in home care more so than acute care their are or can be more intense family dynamics...maybe because you are on their turf?

There is no one area that is perfect.

I found the connection to one patient so satisfying.

Best way to know is try it. Find a good agency that will offer you

good support..Good luck

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Home Care can be very rewarding..just be picky about the agency you use and the cases you take. I worked in pediatric home health for 6 years. I worked for a couple of families that thought you were also a babysitter for the other children, a maid and a cook, a bank from which they could borrow money, wanted to use my car while I was there working, or run errands for them and other family members, and even asked me to stop at the store and buy things for them on my way to work......................I don't do home care anymore for those reasons. Just be careful and get with a company that will back you up when needed. Good luck!:nurse:

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