Do you get to pick your patients..

Do you get to pick your patients in home health?
Yes. To a certain extent. You can interview with a new client, or make a decision after getting an introduction by the nursing supervisor or the staffing coordinator and reading the 485. You can choose to be removed from a case any time after you start working with the client and their family. But you have to keep in mind that the agency will not bend over backwards for you if you keep finding some reason not to work with particular patients. At some time, you have to put your need for work above your need to have pleasant, cooperative clients. Most home health patients/families are needy and demanding to some extent and the agency caters to them instead of their nurses, as a rule.

When I did Home Care, I had a section of the county and if someone lived in my section, unless I was completely full-- I had them. Sometimes we changed due to a number of factors (past history with the person, family members, special skills required- wounds for example) but I was not able to just pick and choose.