Strange Days
I know I haven’t said much, but I want to reassure everyone that I am not giving up on this whole nursing racket. In fact, I have been doing private duty nursing since January. The wife of my patient called me up out of nowhere. She had received my resume from a friend, and she needed someone ASAP. It doesn’t pay much (the family is paying me out-of-pocket), but it is challenging and interesting work, and I love the family.
I have been there over thirty hours a week, so I was slacking off on my job hunting, choosing instead to spend the evenings hanging out with my kid. On a whim, I applied at a local home care agency. I didn’t give it another thought, since every home care I had ever applied with wouldn’t look my way without that magic year of experience. Surprisingly, the manager called that day.
I have been looking for a full-time RN position for almost a year now, and this is only the second interview I have been on. I wasn’t sure I could work it around my commitment to my private duty patient, but I went anyway. I am so glad I did! The first thing the director told me is that she could see from my app that I had worked my way out of some pretty bad teen years. She said she was very proud of me for turning my life around. I was amazed and touched by what she said. It was a far cry from the scoldings I regularly received from the Dean. I was very clear about my commitment to my patient, and she saw no conflict of interest. Some of her nurses even work for more than one agency. I guess that is pretty common, actually.
The weird twist is, my private duty patient ended up getting admitted to the hospital last week. I feel bad because it was not what he wanted, but he is also not ready to cease aggressive treatment, either, so there was no other choice. I haven’t heard from the agency to set up orientation (they should call today) but having the next ten days free will make orientation easier to schedule.
The more I think about it, the more interesting this job sounds. There is a lot of autonomy and care planning, not to mention patient teaching, which I love. Oh, and lots of wound care and IV. I was really impressed with this operation as well. The agency was started by a nurse, and most of the staff have been there for a dozen years. They are organized, the paperwork is streamlined, and they offer a great orientation, many education opportunities, lots of flexibility, and really good pay.
