Which Hospice companies are Good to work for?

Specialties Hospice

Published

Hello,

I am looking to switch to hospice nursing. I am looking for a company that offers a good orientation and support for new nurses entering the field. With so many different companies out there, I dont know which ones are good and which ones I should stay away from. I live in PA/DE area. Some of the companies around here are VITAS, Compassionate Care Hospice, ACTS, Heartland Home Health & Hospice, VISTA, and of course there are those affiliated with the hospital and VNA. Anyone wish to comment???

What should I look for and what should I stay away from?

Hi,

I will be graduating as an RN in May 2010. I have thought of being in Hospice for years. I am training as a hospice volunteer right now.

I will be 50 when I graduate.

Florida is looking real good with the price of home heating fuel in New England. Does anyone have information on Tidewell Hospice and Palliative care in the Sarasota area? Anywhere in Florida would be interesting...not knowing much about the state except that it is warmer than here!

Is it possible for a new RN to get into hospice without hospital training? Would oncology by a suitable specialty to start with? I think I would enjoy home care eventually. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

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Has anybody any information good/bad for Passages Hospice, or Rainbow Hospice. Thinking of Illinois.

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Specializes in peds.

what does anyone know about hospices in alabama. i'm a new grad. hospices seem to be the only companies hiring in my area.

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New Grads Getting Accepted In Hospice--For Becky8 et.al.

I have worked in hospice for 4-5 years. When I first applied---after 3 years in a nursing homes---they said they wanted me to have had at least "some" work in home care settings.

After about 1.5 years doing home care for an agency immediately got hired into hospice the first time I applied. Things may be different elsewhere but that was my experience in Florida.

Hal_Dol

Pain makes man think,

Thought makes man wise,

Wisdom makes pain endurable.

Tea House of the August Moon

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Specializes in peds.

thanks for the help.

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I am a Healthcare Recruiter in the Tampa Bay area and am searching for Registered Nurses to work in the Hospice Environment. Qualified candidates must have at least one year of clinical experience, a current FL license and experience in Hospice, homecare or critical Care. Please email your resume to [email protected]!

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Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.

I have been on record again and again stating that I think that field hospice nursing is a very difficult place/position for new grads. Inpatient units, however, are a totally different animal and I would encourage new grads to apply for those hospice facility jobs...you will learn amazing things about yourself and nursing!

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Tidewell Hospice is currently undergoing many changes as their CEO has recently changed. The new CEO has a background in accounting. One of the major changes I heard today is that the RNs in the Hospice houses are now all Salary and get paid for 36 hours per week even if they have to stay late to do charting. They are getting pretty finicky with their supplies as well. The benefits aren't what they used to be either. Morale seems to be low from most of my coworkers.

It feels to me that the focus has changed within this company from the patient first to the bottom line first. I understand the need to balance the budget and not spend more than you make. But the focus should be patient and their needs first.

Tidewell is nonprofit and yes they are EXTREMELY concerned with their public image. They even require business attire or scrubs when entering office buildings or attending a meeting on your off day. The office buildings are for employees only not patient and families so this makes no sense to me. So no jeans or t-shirts on your off day if you have to stop in the office or go to an employee meeting.

They cover 4 counties in a community that has one of the largest populations of senior citizens in the united states. And if I am not mistaken they NO competition in three of those counties.

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Specializes in ER, Cardiac, Hospice, Hyperbaric, Float.
The new CEO has a background in accounting. One of the major changes I heard today is that the RNs in the Hospice houses are now all Salary and get paid for 36 hours per week even if they have to stay late to do charting. They are getting pretty finicky with their supplies as well. The benefits aren't what they used to be either. Morale seems to be low from most of my coworkers.

It feels to me that the focus has changed within this company from the patient first to the bottom line first. I understand the need to balance the budget and not spend more than you make. But the focus should be patient and their needs first.

SO, SO, SO sad! The fact that an ACCOUNTANT would be the CEO at an agency that primarily provides NURSING services is LUDICROUS to me! Yes, most agencies need good accountants for advice regarding cost saving. But an agency (unless it is an ACCOUNTING or other financial agency) with an accountant as CEO obviously is focused on ONE thing - and it ain't the patients (or the people caring for the patients).

So sad. But so familiar, as the agency I work for seems to have the same focus and same philosophy - and the quality nurses (and Aides and Social Workers) are dropping like flies. Sure, you can hire more "bodies with a license" to fill the vacancies, but the patients and families suffer- even aperson with experience in hospice needs a little time to learn the ins and outs of a new agency.

I don't know the solution, but I DO know that as long as the "bottom line" is the focus, the patients and the employees closest to them will suffer dearly. But it's okay as long as the census is up. :crying2:

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Yes you should definitely think twice about working for a hospice in Phoenix or Las Vegas that lusts for infinity. The number of patients you will be expected to care for will be infinite. I was up to 24 when working for this infinitely, ridiculous place. I could have handled that except. I was expected to do infinite admissions too, two or more a week. The amount of hours you will be on call for $3 an hour and 7 days at a time will be infinite. Basically for however long you work there, you will have no private life. No one will care if you are exhausted, as they only hire hitleresque management types. If you have been doing visits all week and then are out all night and on call on Sunday and need to go and see a patient but want to avoid the 75 mile round trip for a few hours to get a nap, you will be yelled at and told to get out and see that pt right now. You start to not care much about anyone. I think that is the goal. I think they intentionally cause this upset so that the patients will get less and their profits in their mind will be infinite. If they get less ,then it is more for the greed pile. Interestingly they have the whole family in on it. They work in the "office" doing ??????????? and probably get the big salary for their infinite seatedness. I told them I could not handle it and was taking a week off, the son of the owner who is the CEO or the VP, I am not sure, they are both completely nepotistic fringe, he sent me an email saying to turn in my BB cause I don't work there anymore. He used to be an attorney, he had to come back home cause he wanted to work and be able to spend time in the sandbox with his dollies.

So, they think they can fire their way through life and there are no repercussions. They think that money is for rich people to use to line their pockets, buy diapers for their grown sons? Not sure what they do with the money but I bet its kinky.

Please do not let these folks cause you infinite trouble and pain. Do not work for them, but also, they need more than that, they need to be made to stop all their exploitation.

TO the family members of the hospice patients getting this infinitely bad care, there are other places you know. I found that out. There are infinite possibilities out there.

To the new grads who are offered jobs by this organization, the reason why they have no experienced nurses is that they are doing things other places would not do. You can be barred from working where Medicare reimburses you and in this locale it is just a matter of time. Once Medicare gets a load of those staff ratios, it will be all over. Where will the diapers for the baby boys in their 30's come from then??????? Dumped right to full time sandbox playtime with mommy I bet.

So in closing my sweet new nurses,keep looking a bit longer, but if you have to you can work there, but be aware of how much you could lose.

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