Getting Discouraged

Nemeth · Sep 24, 2004

Hey,
I am new to this and i am currently an LPN student in my first semester. even though i have been reading many posts i see that everyone recommends that goin into palliative care u need several years of experience. this is somethin i really want to do, especially working in peds. i am now unsure of where i would like to work once im out of school and practicing. is palliative care really that hard?

It is important in palliative/hospice care to have a good working knowledge of the human body and how disease proceesses effect it. You need to be able to predict the likely course of the disease and what symptoms will likely happen. You need to make suggestions to MDs that are insightfull for creative symptom control and to stay ahead of the symptoms before they happen. A year or 2 in med/surg will be a good start. You don't know what you don't know because you don't know it, get it. This does not mean your not smart and can't learn it quickly, do a little hospital and LTC work first, then apply to a hospice in your area and see who bites. The body reacts totally differently when it is dying, then when it is healing, you need to experience this first hand in a controlled environment with support before you are in Hospice, where you are in the field alone. Most Hospice nurses are RN's and there is also palliative care and hospice certification exam that is National the CHPN, but you would not attempt the exam until you have a year or two experience in hospice/palliative care. Slow down. If you take a short cut your patients will suffer, you have the rest of your life. You need to establish short term goals that lead to your long term goal of being a hospice/palliative care nurse. Hope this helps.

KIM