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Posted: Jan 21, 2008 10:52 PM
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I have been a Nurse for 27 years. That seems like so many years, especially if you are a new graduate nurse. Yet, for me, the years have passed very fast. Many times I have wondered how my nursing career could have been different. You see, I am one of those nurses who could never seem to find my niche in the many areas available to us in the profession. In fact, when I was in nursing school, I wasn't even aware of all the areas available. I thought you went to nursing school, graduated and went to work in a hospital...on a medical/surgical floor at that.
In the last year however, I did find my niche. Actually, it found me. You see, I believe in God and His Hand in my life. He actually opened a door for me that I would never have opened myself. In fact, I was faced with the door before, and I did not open it.
My new found home in nursing is Hospice. There is a local, nonprofit Hospice agency in the small town I live in. Several times throughout my nursing career I would go by and pick up an application, but never completed it. Then one day last April, I was leaving the hospital, after sitting with my father-in-law for several months while he was a patient. Going down the stairs, the door opened in the hall at a small office where just a few nursing staff worked. My curiosity got the best of me, so I stopped and questioned them as to just what they did.
The staff explained they worked for Hospice and that this was a small inpatient unit. I had no real idea of what Hospice was or what it meant. But I thought, I might be able to do this! As I left the building, I was met by someone I worked with years earlier and not aware of whom she was, we talked and when she asked me what I was doing, I told her I was on my way to apply for a job at this Inpatient Hospice facility. I still was not aware that the person I was talking to was the Executive Director of the Hospice Agency. Within days I found myself being hired as the Director of the Inpatient Facility.
During my interview with the Clinical Director, the last thing I told her was that I did not like working with dead people. She of course was taken aback and stated that Hospice was in the business of dealing with death and dying and that the nurse was the person who pronounced the deceased. I explained to her that in all my years of nursing I had never taken care of a deceased body by doing postmortem care. I always let the nurse aid do the care. I didn't even want to go back into the deceased room when they had been pronounced.
To my surprise, I have come to view death as a part of living. Giving care to someone who is in the last stages of their lives has become one of my greatest blessings. To be able to share this most intimate time in one's life and the life of the family has become viewed, by me, as a privilege. To be there, perhaps holding a dying patients' hand or their love ones' hand, I feel is the last thing I can do for this person as they leave this life. Any fear or anxiety I may have had with death and dying has been totally alleviated. I don't even think of my position as being a job, but more so a ministry.
Hospice nursing is truly holistic in nature. We have a team of professionals who work closely together, trust each other, and value each others' expertise and opinions. Our team consists of nurse, nurse aid, social worker, chaplain, physician, bereavement coordinator, as well as the most important people, the patient and family. Each person is listened to, helps plan patient/family care, and come together when comfort and encouragement and just listening is needed.
You may think that working in Hospice will "weaken" your nursing skills. This is so far from the truth. Not only are our patients facing the end of life, but they also have many medical and physical conditions that continue to require intense nursing assessment, planning, care, and evaluation...just like any other nursing area of care. I have found that teaching is one of the most critical aspects of the nursing care. Teaching on dying and the changes to be expected to family is one of the most challenging areas. Families worry about patients being in pain, of starving and dehydrating when they begin to refuse nourishment. Teaching must be done quickly, repeated frequently, and done on levels that families are ready to hear and deal with.
If you want to really know that you made a difference in someone's life at the end of the day, that what you did mattered, that your very presence made a difference, then I challenge you to give Hospice a career chance.
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Thank you for this wonderful article! I've been a hospice nurse for 8 years and have recently returned to LTC. I still see make 4 hospice visits a week. I'm back in school in earn my RN and it is hard to work hospice and be in school because of the many needs/wants my patients have. My agency (and myself) truly believe in continuity of care and except for the RN sup visits I don't want to have another LPN seeing my patients. They know and trust me and it isn't fair to have others make the visit because I have a class or test. Even though I dearly love my LTC residents hospice is were my heart is. I can hardly wait to finish so I can return to hospice full time.
