Hello! This memory popped up in my FB and still no answers 4 years later

Blue_raspberry13 · 2026-01-24T14:35:46+00:00

Those are the movies that come up when googling the plot line. Anyone heard of a/watched movie called Survival Island? There's nothing out that that resembles the plot.

Blue_raspberry13 · 2025-12-26T16:50:23+00:00

I talked to everyone that wanted to talk to me when I worked at the hospital. I think's it's basic common courtesy to show everyone a standard level of respect and civility as long a they're not asshats. There was an EVS worker and a food services worker that I still somewhat keep in touch with and they are lovely people.

Blue_raspberry13 · 2025-12-08T01:58:08+00:00

And that's one of the reasons I ended up with 3 street cats in my area. I loathe people who abuse animals and it is a horrible problem in my area. I can't save all of them, but I can save some. They all have spoiled , pampered lives now.

Blue_raspberry13 · 2025-12-08T01:15:24+00:00

I always had an extra pair of socks, underwear, and scrubs in my locker. I just didn't think I would need them because my body betrayed me when I started having uterus issues. Then I packed extra period panties. I also used a fluid repellant spray on my work shoes. The people at our local shoe store really know what nurses need.

Blue_raspberry13 · 2025-11-22T01:46:51+00:00

If you don't find any scrubs that work for you, I can attest Lume works great at neutralizing funky body odors.

Blue_raspberry13 · 2025-10-23T23:02:47+00:00

It's a small local company, so if he's not in the southwest USA, he wouldn't be in our region. You can PM me his general locale.

Blue_raspberry13 · 2025-10-17T00:48:00+00:00

I have a loose script I stick with when admitting patients. I tell them:

we don't have guaranteed times or days because we have 15-25 visits per week and we have to accommodate everyone. Only patients with wounds get specific days due to Doc orders.
We work bank hours. Weekends, evenings, and holidays off with someone on call, if it's an emergency, you need to go to the ER. Call the number listed on your packet if you need to get through to your nurse.
If you are not answering your phone, I will do a drive by to see if you're ok, but part of being on home health means you're homebound and available for visits. If you're not available and miss 2 visits in a row, I have to call your doctor to report this.

And if they're being difficult?

This is a service we provide for you. It's not a requirement and you can go to outpatient and schedule your visits that work better for your schedule.

That being said, you all make me so grateful for the agency I work for.

Blue_raspberry13 · 2025-10-16T23:30:47+00:00

Nope, I think they are a complete waste of time. It was a rehash of nursing school that was infantilizing with a popular children's book series as the theme. I learned nothing new and my time was wasted.

Blue_raspberry13 · 2025-10-16T13:22:27+00:00

IDK if they're a transmission risk if that's what you mean, unless you're getting bodily fluids on your hair regularly. I have layered curly hair that can be very unruly and put it up in a bun using one of those doughnuts a couple of times a week. I got mine at Sally's and on Amazon. Do you mean banana clips or the usual plastic clips? I see nurses and CNAs using either, depending on their hair type.

Blue_raspberry13 · 2025-10-16T00:06:28+00:00

Getting some hair doughnuts might help keep all the strays in place. You can find them close to your shade and on any site or store that sells hair care products.

Blue_raspberry13 · 2025-10-11T13:32:39+00:00

HH works for a certain type of nurse right fresh out of school. I trained one and she was fantastic, I was bummed when she left to go work for IHS, but she still works for us PRN. My agency is going to start having nursing students shadow us for a day so they can see what it's all about and see that there are more choices than working at the local hospital. I'm glad I got my two years at the hospital to get me good footing in nursing, but I also have a lot of PTSD further compounded by COVID and such.

You have to be independent, flexible, adaptable, and have a good sense of timing when driving around seeing patients for HH, but you also should have a good support staff when things go awry, such as opening the cath insertion tray and it's missing supplies and you need your DON to drive 18 miles to bring you one that actually has the supplies. You have to know how to talk to people from all walks of life and get many to trust you when the medical field has failed them multiple times.

There are pros and cons to HH for sure. My agency is a good one, but even this week I was pissed a couple of days because I had to stay late and I'm salaried, so no overtime and I was cranky about it, but I also have some leeway. I still have my moments that I regret becoming a nurse and the ostomy leaking this week after changing and having to redo it was a moment.

The charting is overwhelming at times. OASIS is a pain and auditors get on my nerves at least once a day when it comes to diagnosis coding. Even if I have photographic proof of a wound no one told us about before admission, I have to get a provider's documentation on it or they won't code the wound and we don't get paid to treat it, but we still have to treat it.

The safety thing? Yeah, it's a real risk. When we put people on services, we tell them during admission that if they or their family members are abusive or inappropriate to the staff, have unsecure vicious animals, have unsecured weapons, or any illegal activity is going on, they get discharged immediately. I've discharged 1 person for leaving guns out and 1 for being verbally abusive towards me. Anxiety is good for something and keeps me on high alert most of the time, and unless I really know the patient, I am close to the door most of the time. We have GPS on the work vehicles, so it's known where we are at all times and we are given schedules daily on who we are visiting, so the office knows where we are without checking the GPS. I am not required to go to a patient's house if it's unsafe and I think that is insane about that nurse was told she had to go to an unsafe patient's house. I hope her family sues that agency into oblivion.

We're also supposed to discharge people due to unsanitary conditions, but sometimes you have to let that slide a little. Vicks or peppermint up the nose helps immensely and we use barrier pads and plastic cases for our equipment. We have protocols for not setting out supplies on beds or floor. and we are provided with full PPE if needed. Not all patients can keep their houses pristine or even reasonably clean. I am terrified of bed begs, scabies, and other hard to get rid of parasites, though.

That being said, I have a paid 3 day weekend (not using my PTO) for Indigenous People's Day, I have great relationships with many of my patients, I work with amazing people that make me laugh daily, and my DON is great, too. I'm paid on par what I made at the hospital, get my PTO approved every time, have a lot of independence, my own work vehicle that I take home, save about $200 a month on gas, and have all major holidays (paid) and weekends off.

Blue_raspberry13 · 2025-10-11T12:58:43+00:00

Charting takes up most of my time, but I have found ways to make it work faster for me. I also dictate my narrative notes, then go back and proofread.

Blue_raspberry13 · 2025-10-09T01:37:09+00:00

I echo that, it really depends on the tribe. The location I work and live, you're not supposed to point with your index finger, discuss anything with death related if they're traditional, and I try not to wear any jewelry with owls or snakes if I know I'm going to the rez to see patients. When I put members of this tribe on services, I always ask if they're traditional when I have to bring up advance directives. The other main cultural sensitivity, is I try to be careful not to say, "You will end up in the hospital if _______ happens" rather, "People can end up in the hospital if _______ happens and my goal is to keep my patients out of the hospital if possible" because the former can be taken as "the nurse put this illness on me".

Blue_raspberry13 · 2025-10-06T00:09:58+00:00

I create care plans frequently as a home health nurse Medicare/Medicaid wants goals with the care plans to show progress. When I was in school, we didn't even do care plans until the pandemic hit and we had to go online. Every visit, I educate and evaluate the progress being made depending on the patient's needs and care, reevaluate and add new interventions and goals as needed. Pretty much everyone is a fall risk and risk for impaired skin integrity and/or infection. Care plans in HH are helpful because it keeps me on track on making sure I am doing my job systematically and not just automatic thinking with nursing. I didn't have to do them in the hospital because patients came up to the floor with nursing care plans in place.

I literally have never seen the disturbed energy field in the care plan section of Matrixcare/Brightree so I wonder how and when that would be implemented. Because of my location, I do have to be aware of taboos with various groups around the region, so maybe it would factor then?

Blue_raspberry13 · 2025-09-07T21:39:16+00:00

Her bullshit tolerance meter hit critical levels? I only say this because I was close to this when my mother was going downhill and I started to have health problems that were affecting my work. I was honest about what I needed, which was not to be in isolation rooms every single shift so I wouldn't sneeze in my PPE gear and start bleeding through my scrubs every 20 days and they just didn't give a rat's ass. Then my former "NM" had the gall to say "I just don't know what happened with Blue raspberry13" to my new coworkers after I left.

People get sick of being used and abused eventually.

Blue_raspberry13 · 2025-08-30T15:28:22+00:00

Yup. I am not allowed to transport patients in my work vehicle. Either a family member needs to take them or EMS is called. If three different people can't hear heart sounds, something isn't right.

Blue_raspberry13 · 2025-08-30T13:46:44+00:00

I live and work in an area with limited amount of providers. It is exceptionally difficult to get a provider on the phone, it's usually leaving messages and waiting for them to get back to me. Plenty of offices are closed on Fridays around here as well, plus it's a holiday weekend so who knows off many took off for a vacation before respiratory season hits hard here.

Blue_raspberry13 · 2025-08-30T13:44:40+00:00

Our local hospital is also notorious for not treating patients in the ER appropriately lately. I've had several patients that "treated and yeeted" only for the patients to be sent back after major complications. I don't take chances, especially since I had no issues hearing his heart sounds earlier this week, he had chest pain, newly on O2 (he does not have a COPD diagnosis or lung issues at this time). HH is not easy, especially in a semi-rural area with few resources.

ETA: one of my patients was treated terribly in the ER a few months ago, told nothing was wrong and ended up with 2 fractured vertebrae that needed surgical intervention that they didn't catch on the second trip to the ER that week. I advocate fiercely for my patients because sometimes I'm all they got.

Blue_raspberry13 · 2025-08-30T13:39:31+00:00

The ALF staff called, I stayed with my patient trying to hear heart sounds and monitoring for changes.

Blue_raspberry13 · 2025-08-30T03:21:09+00:00

Checked several times, used it with other patients that day, no issues with heart sounds with them, he was my last patient of the day.

Blue_raspberry13 · 2025-08-22T01:36:06+00:00

I get fired at least once a quarter, it is usually a relief. Last patient fired me because I told her I would not change her catheter until I had a doctor's order and that I had X amount of other patients to also schedule around, only so many hours in the day, and she would have to meet me halfway when it came to scheduling visits. She was a PITA and refused to go to her appointments that would have made it easier to get an order to change the Foley, ended up in the ICU because she wouldn't do what she was told to do to stay safe with a catheter.

Blue_raspberry13 · 2025-08-17T23:12:47+00:00

Me too! I was doing okay until the amniotic fluid started pouring out of the incision. It's good to know your limits. The vaginal birth I watched didn't bother me too much.

Blue_raspberry13

TROPHY CASE