hours worked per week

[blexxer]

I am a male looking to get into hospice care but I am curious about the work hours in this specialty. I have seen posts in this saying easily 50-60 hours a week. I find this gross. Are there any hospice nurses that work 36-40? Moreover can you have a say as to how much you wish to work?

Also where do hospice nurses tend to work more, home visits or hospital?

Any input would be appreciated.

[TammyG]

Hospital nurses working in a hospice ward just work shifts like any other hospital nurse. Same thing with hospice house. So if restricting your hours are important to you, that would be a good place to start.

Hospice case managers work a minimum of 50 hours per week in my experience, and are usually salaried. But other RNs in hospice (on-call, weekends, etc) work shifts, so you can work as many or as few shifts as your employer allows you to.

[No12S, ADN, BSN, RN]

I worked hospice for 8 years. Generally I worked about 40-45 hours a week but one of the worst things about hospice is oncall! They put you on a salary so they don't have to pay overtime. The on call rotation was about 3 Days a month, I would have to work all day, then be on call all night until 8am the next morning,and when it was your time to do a wkend day it was a 24 hour oncall. There is a lot of driving, a lot of filthy houses and dysfunctional, mentally ill people you deal with(patients and family). if you get off at 5 and one of your patients calls at 4:30 you are expected to go out and see them, the visit could last an hour or two. The good- flexibility, no micromanaging, you work alone and no time clock. I left 6 months ago and never plan to go back!