An Ordinary Month, Described
The proposition is simple to say, and difficult to imagine. Nurses are practical people and will not act on something that they cannot see the shape of, so here is the shape.
Clients
They come through the platform. Participants, families, coordinators and providers look for nurses and contact them based on availability, experience and location.
It depends on the enquiries you choose to accept. You don't have to fill anything, and there's no penalty for saying no. Your caseload is not determined by assignment, but rather designed.
Your team
Support workers delivering the daily supports. You select which client works with which worker. We assist you to locate and verify them.
Some months this is easy. Other months a worker leaves and the recruitment starts again, so building capacity beyond what's strictly required is worthwhile.
Your clinical work
Assessments, planning, monitoring, escalation and the visits which require your registration. The part you trained for.
Direct clinical hours are a smaller percentage of the week for most nurses who practise this model, and supervision is a larger percentage.
The admin
Agreements created and stored on the platform. Rates you set, within the limits, and made clear to clients before dealing. Invoicing and payment run through the platform.
What you handle yourself: your registration, your insurance, your tax, and your own clinical documentation to your standards.
Your hours
As many as you want. Some people run this alongside paid work for years. Some make a complete change within six months. Both are normal.
What a difficult month looks like
Worth being honest about. A client's needs outgrow the agreement that was made. A worker gives two weeks' notice. There's no manager over you, and when a family isn't happy, it's your responsibility to sort out.
The last one is the change from employment, really. The buck stops with you, in every direction.
How this plays out in practice
Imagine a nurse eight months in, who has five clients and three workers. Of those months, two were rough, one badly.
She doesn't say it's ‘easier' than employment, just different. It's that the challenging months were challenging about things she could actually change.
Next steps
If the shape above sounds workable, the next article is about what you give up, which is the more important read.
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