is this worth it?

[amiss8488]

I have 2 years of experience as an RN and most of it was in the OR. I loved it, yet hated it. It never felt right to me and I always struggled to "fit in" and I was even bullied for my religious views (the became the last straw). So I took a job with HHC in Denver. I think this is it, I have found my passion in nursing!!

I am not going to lie though, it is hard. Somedays I stay up until 1 AM. Somedays I dont eat. Somedays just suck with the traffic and driving and the constant emails and phone calls. But I put so much into this. I am constantly meeting up with an experienced RN to try to get as much training with wounds as I can. I am always watching videos. Always asking questions. And somehow, even though I feel like I have so much to learn, I am still able to go into the home with confidence.

but anyways, I took a job with a company, and then shortly after, another HHC called me for an interview. I have been in HHC for 3 months now. When I went to the second job's interview, the woman immediatley threw an offer with me. I was kind of shocked. She was well aware of how little of experience I have. I was never asked legit interview type questions either. Here was her offer:

I am on call for 3 weeks out of the month from 330-8pm and weekends. I get salary 2k a month. Her exact words were: you will only do SOC or emergency visits. She said that it was up to me to decide if I wanted to keep that patient and continue seeing them. If I did then I would get extra per visit. That was really it and I had a hard to turning I down because of my student loans. She also reported they might get 2 "calls" a week

So I accepted. My other HHC is huge. It is super nice because I have a ton of patients in my area. This HHC is very small though and a lot of the calls have been for patients 30 minutes or more away! I sometimes find myself getting pissed off for having to drive soo far, that's a lot of time. I am not even bothered about my car or gas, it's more about my time spent driving and then the time to do the SOC.

I also feel like I have some resentment towards the agency. The first week I did not get any calls. The second week they called me for a wound vac and abx. I told them I would do the SOC. Then the scheduler asked if I could also take the patient on as a patient. I told her no (drive was 30 minutes). Then about 10 minutes later I get a call from the boss and she demands that I take it. She says, "you need to take this patient". I never got paid any extra. Then she also said that I can see the patient during my on call hours. Is this how on call works? Obviously this was not part of the agreement though and I let her know that.

I wasn't happy and they knew this. I voiced my frustration. I did end up taking the patient but I think it was only because it would give me more experience and I could learn their charting system.

I am still confused sometimes on what call means. II only thought that if a patient was leaving the hospital after 330, then I would get a call. To me, it seems if they can't find an RN, then I am called.

I was also told that I needed to go and open a patient that was strictly PT. When I reviewed her chart, she has zero nursing needs. This does not seem right? The order is really strange. On the order it says RN for SOC and then PT to follow. But the office told that it's that way because PT can't go out until Wednesday. I just get confused, why is nursing going? why not delay SOC until PT? I am wasting my time I feel like

Also, they will tell me a patient is to be d/c, (lets just say tonight at 7) then patient is not d/c until the next day, in the AM. They still expect me to open the case even though there will be another nurse following and the patient is clearly not being d/c during my call hours.

Please help clarify some of this. I have never taken call in HHC. Maybe this is the expectation anywhere. But I have become salty and it makes me not want to work for them anymore. I really love the other company. Maybe I just need to forget about this place.

[J.Adderton, BSN, MSN]

This may be a case of "too good to be true" and you were not provided with transparent information of what job entails. I once left a large HH company for smaller with more pay. Unfortunately, my territory was geographically larger, fewer nurses to share call and fewer agency resources. I would continue to ask for clarification when you do not understand a process.

[Libby1987]

I haven't heard of such a practice. We don't do evening SOCs and on call visits are strictly for catheter problems for patients with retention or the uncommon changes in condition that cannot be triaged over the phone (by a dedicated telephonic nurse) or an early evening prn visit needed that can't be performed by daytime nurses due to staffing (this is not abused).

Our regularly scheduled RNs are scheduled on call 1 night a month 5p to 8a and receive a stipend. They are paid hourly, usually overtime, for any work related activity. If they did end up going out in middle of the night and report unable to get adequate sleep, then accommodations are made.

This practice was similar to my previous employers except that you were scheduled a week at a time every 4-6 weeks and often you'd go the entire week without a call.

I advise you to stick with the regular position and give yourself a couple of years to learn it well. There are no doubt (it would unusual if there weren't) many opportunities where you can improve your efficiency as you learn.

Then if you want to pick up extra work whether with this original HHA or an additional HHA, you will be much better positioned to negotiate a reasonable offer and absorb the extra work.

[Southpawdown]

If you really love the other company you should stick with them. Most home health agencies - at least where I live - have call rotation but like one of the other posters said, it's for answering calls not normally doing visits.

I am surprised though you feel driving 30 minutes is too far to see a patient. Most agencies cover multiple counties/geographical areas and those where I live can cover 50 miles or more one way. I am also surprised you are not getting mileage on top of your salary but maybe I missed that part.

Bottom line is this smaller company doesn't sound like a good fit for you for a variety of reasons.

[amiss8488]

yes. I think I am overloaded. This is new for me and too much. So I am going to slow down and maybe after a few years I can pick up. It's these student loans that are killing me. just want them gone so I push myself to the edge, but then my work is impacted. Thanks for all of your advice (everyojne)