I am a med/ surg RN who worked in the hospital setting for years. I always loved the fast paced environment of the hospital. Taking care of 5-7 patients at a time was typical, and made the day shift I was working go quickly. When I worked nights I had 15-16 patients which was extremely draining. I always thought that homecare was simple patient education in the home, and that I would be in and out of the home in one hour and would have to see multiple patients in one day. Essentially I thought all homecare fit the “visiting nurse” model. I honestly didn’t realize that I could work a full 8 to 12 hour shift with one patient in his or her home.
At a job fair one year ago I met some people from Newborn Nurses. They told me what it was like to be a homecare nurse. They explained that I could work just a couple shifts a month to make some extra money, or I could work 40 hours a week if I was interested in something full time. Plus, there is no holiday/weekend requirement! For someone who has always had to work a couple of holidays a year, they had my attention. I was still a little apprehensive because I never worked with chronically ill children before. They explained that they actually have a number of adult patients on service for private duty nursing. In fact they had a patient in her 50′s who has 3 shifts available per month about twenty minutes from my house! I decided to give homecare a try. I began working with this patient and found that working with a patient one on one was remarkably rewarding. The patient appreciated everything I did for her and I had time to do all the little extras. I really enjoy the flexible schedule as well.
Newborn Nurses started calling me and offering me other cases in my area. They had more adult cases, but they also had a new case opening – an adolescent case 10 minutes from my house. I never thought I would want to work with a 15 year old as a nurse, but I wanted to learn new skills. The case that was opening had a day shift available and the nurse who takes those shifts would actually be with the child in school all day. The instructors at Newborn Nurses spent a great deal of time with me going over how to do a very thorough adolescent assessment, and the clinical skills needed to care for trached and ventilator dependant patient. I left my job at the hospital and have been working full time with the 16 year old patient for 6 months. I LOVE IT!! It is the first time in my life I actually think my job is fun. The rewards of enabling this child to go to school everyday are profound.
Learn more about Newborn Nurses
Providing RN/LPN Shift Care In the Patients Home For Newborns, Pediatrics, Adolescents & Adults.
