Back to Work!

I’m happy to report that I’ve finally been offered a position with a home health agency in a nearby town, and I’m set to begin my orientation in the coming week. My hope is that this will work out to our mutual satisfaction, and I’ll have a good job for the foreseeable future. Any doubts I may have are connected to possible changes in the Medicare guidelines secondary to the present economy. I could see a time when cuts in the program would result in less caregivers needed or the visiting nurse program being scrapped altogether.

It is such a boon to be able to work out of an office close to my home, instead of having a lengthy commute. When you live in the countryside, as I do, it is generally a given that you will be spending time in the line of traffic coming and going to work. I recently read somewhere that a lengthy commute impacted on job satisfaction, and I believe it. The job as a visiting nurse already involves driving so not adding a lengthy commute is a plus.Since I will be working close to the community where I live, my travels will allow me to better acquaint myself with the area. I have owned my present home for many years but moved away from 1994 to 2009. There have been many changes in the intervening years. It’s also good to be working with people you will see within your community. I feel people always interact more positively with you when they know they may run into you in the grocery store.

I haven’t worked in Medicare home health in a long time so I have a great deal to learn about the documentation. There is much documentation in all aspects of health care, there’s no getting around it!You will be filling out forms or entering it into a computer, it just comes with the territory. In Medicare home health the documentation is voluminous. This volume of documentation was a specific point discussed during the interview process. My interviewer wanted to be absolutely sure I knew the amount of paperwork involved. Granted , paperwork is not my favorite thing. I am sure it will be months before I am at ease with it!One of the other concerns my interviewer plumbed at some depth with me was how I felt about being inside people’s homes. This was one of the reasons I chose to interview with a Medicare agency. These home visits are visits as opposed to shifts. There’s a big difference in making an hour’s visit versus a 4 to 8 hour shift in a private home. I can tolerate almost any conditions for one hour but a shift in cramped, dirty, or hot quarters can be unbearable. It has been a year and a half since I’ve been employed and I feel I am ready to go back to work!