Originally Posted by l.dunn
hi, im a nurse in the uk who hopes to move to the usa in the future to practice. just wondering what extent the hospice movement has in the usa as a speciality. is it as "well paid" as other areas of nursing and who easy is it to get into??
I don't think that it is very hard to get into and is a growing field. As in other areas of nursing, there are so many staff shortages. Where I work we rely on nursing staffing agencies a lot, which is not good because hospice is such an art and specialty that the general nurse coming in can pass meds and such, but doesn't have the assessment skills. Lots of their patients wind up undermedicated, for sure.
As far as pay, I find that it is lower paid than other fields. I suppose if you could get into a palliative care unit in a hospital, you would get paid better, but where I work, is basically non- profit and always struggling financially and so I make a lot less and advance in pay more slowly than my contemporaries. But, this is where I belong, so I deal with it.
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