Hospice Home care ?

1. I'm thinking about Hospice care as a career shift. I have devoted the last six months to my recovery, six months today,in fact. I'm celebrating my new lease on life with a new attitude and compassion. Who is hiring and how do I handle my past with them ? I'm ashamed that I was fired secondary to breaking contract to limit my absences.(still very ill at the time). Any advice, please ....

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2. 

   About Rascal1

   Joined: Dec '08; Posts: 233; Likes: 119
   retired; from US
   Specialty: Med-Surg., Agency Nursing, LTC., MDS.

   12 Comments

   Topic Closed
3. 
   Jan 6, '09

   I'm pretty sure that Hospice home care would not have been allowed under my contract with my BON and I'm absolutely certain that I would not have felt safe there. There would have been too much isolation and way too much unmonitored exposure to substances that might have tempted me.
4. 
   Jan 6, '09

   Was the OP referring to recovery from cancer or other terminal illness, or substance abuse?
5. 
   Jan 6, '09

   Well, it is definatly not a good idea for a fresh recovering nurse to go to work for a hospice home care patient. Think about it,, it is really one of the last places you would want to put yourself. You are in the patient's home, with no supervision. There are lots of narcotics lying around for the dying patient. Now, if you can be strong enough to stay away from these drugs, then what if, one day, the family complains that there are missing narcotics?? You would be the first one they would point fingers at.
   
   There is no way to officially monitor the distribution of a patient's narcotics at home. There most likely will be family members coming and going in the house, maybe even distant family members (remember the patient is dying) everyone will show up to give their last respects.
   
   You need to stay away from hospice home health. This is NOT (and I stress this strongly) NOT the place for a recovering drug addict.
6. 
   Jan 7, '09

   Thanks, easttexasnurse, I understand what you're saying. Alcohol was my addiction,though. I never crossed over to anything else and I never drank on the job...I guess there can be a million what ifs, and yets...I feel I have so much to offer,having learned so much about myself through recovery. My gratitude is endless to my God,for removing the physical pain and addiction part of my disease. I continue to work on the mental,(brain-retraining),emotional and spiritual aspects on a daily basis...
7. 
   Jan 7, '09

   I could not agree more e.tx. nurse. Most recovering alcoholics do not realize the inherent dangers if being anywhere there are controlled substances. For, example Xanax is identical to alcohol in makeup with the exception of a single molecule. Many alcoholics are hendered in recovery by well meaning Dr's giving out Valium, Xanax, Ativan, etc. Even after 29 years I will not even let my dentist use gas because of the lovely feeling I get that scares the H@LL out of me. I would never trust myself anywhere there is NO oversite like hospice of home health.
8. 
   Jan 20, '09

   another thought, what if you became too close to a patient (a nine month old beautiful little boy), and although we are trained to not do that in this case no other nurse wanted to see him because they were afraid of being too close. long story short, when he died i felt as if i had lost a nephew and hit rock bottom with depression. i did not divert but it would have been so easy. five years later i still know that if i had not had a husband and a sister that i trusted then things could have been so different. and hospice brings out tough emotions when you watch a young mother dying....not just 99 year olds die in hospice and although it is the most rewarding job i have ever done i know that i can never work there again. just some thoughts from a little different angle...not only are narcotics freely there, but the stress and sadness at times are so overwhelming.paula
9. 
   Jan 20, '09

   Too easy to be tempted and as others have said, the drugs are available. Please consider something else.....
10. 
    Jan 22, '09

    Quote from Rascal1

    Thanks, easttexasnurse, I understand what you're saying. Alcohol was my addiction,though. I never crossed over to anything else and I never drank on the job...I guess there can be a million what ifs, and yets...I feel I have so much to offer,having learned so much about myself through recovery. My gratitude is endless to my God,for removing the physical pain and addiction part of my disease. I continue to work on the mental,(brain-retraining),emotional and spiritual aspects on a daily basis...

    a long time ago, 10 yrs, when i first wanted to get sober, i remember telling my first sponsor and my first group that i wasnt an alcoholic, just an addict.
    
    i stayed clean 3 months and then went to a bar with some friends just to have some fun. my sponsor got livid with me for going and fired me. i was pist. didnt anyone understand that i wasnt an alcoholic thati was a drug addict???? why did they keep telling me i WAS an alcoholic too??
    
    it took me one month...30 short days...after going to that bar with my friends before i was drinking so much that i had to drink in the mornings just to get rid of the shakes.
    
    all i had done was swapped one addiction for another. i understand it now. i'm an addict...im addicted to ANYTHING mind altering. heck, i cant even take tylenol like a normal person. on my own i would take 4-6 tabs. my husband gives me any med that i need just to help me take a "normal" dose. and i'm almost 5 yrs sober.
    
    
    i just wanted to say that.
11. 
    Jan 22, '09

    ok, i want to say one more thing and then i'll hush, lol.
    
    I give God all the glory for my recovery!! I am a miracle sitting here typing and it is all because of His love for me.
    
    When i was first sober, I used to tell people that God took the cravings away from me, that He Healed me.
    
    He did heal me but because I am an addict, it took me a long time to realize that the cravings arent gone. What God gave me was strength, faith and hope along with a super support circle around me so that when the cravings came...and they do come...i can say No.
    
    for me, it's dangerous for me when i get to thinking that i'm cured or that i don't/won't have anymore cravings and that they are gone. cuz thats when your disease can sneak in and BOOM! before you know it you are in danger.
    
    k, im done now, lol
12. 
    Jan 22, '09

    I appreciate you input. Thank you so much ! !
13. 
    Jan 27, '09

    He did heal me but because I am an addict, it took me a long time to realize that the cravings arent gone. What God gave me was strength, faith and hope along with a super support circle around me so that when the cravings came...and they do come...i can say No.

    
    Right on.......After 5 yrs of being clean, I can still use tomorrow....My wife and I lead a al-anon type Christian support group, and last night, this topic came up. "once an addict always an adict"....allot of interesting opinions from the family members. I know I am an addict till I die....the only choice I have is to pick up that first one...that's it, after that my choices will stop!
    Rambling...Rambling....anyway thanks Southerngirl for your honesty and your love for God....In the past 5 years I have met countless people in recovery and anyone with ANY amount of clean time will always eventually admit nothing worked until they came to know the real and living Christ. Thanks again.
    Oh....and don't even think about doing Hospice! Way too risky...
14. 
    Jan 29, '09

    Quote from rninmi

    Right on.......After 5 yrs of being clean, I can still use tomorrow....My wife and I lead a al-anon type Christian support group, and last night, this topic came up. "once an addict always an adict"....allot of interesting opinions from the family members. I know I am an addict till I die....the only choice I have is to pick up that first one...that's it, after that my choices will stop!
    Rambling...Rambling....anyway thanks Southerngirl for your honesty and your love for God....In the past 5 years I have met countless people in recovery and anyone with ANY amount of clean time will always eventually admit nothing worked until they came to know the real and living Christ. Thanks again.
    Oh....and don't even think about doing Hospice! Way too risky...

    
    Thank you so much!
    
    The day I finally asked for help, the day of my intervention, God literally screamed in my head "tell her tell her tell her tell her tell her tell her" until i wanted to yell for him to stop. I knew right then i was either making a choice to take that leap of faith to live or i was going to make the choice to keep using and die. i knew it sure as i know i'm sitting here. i think that truly was the first time in my life that i lissned to God. oh sure, He talked to me lots...but that was the first time i really lissned to Him.
    
    I've been lissning ever since too!
    
    I tried getting sober on my own for years and years. I can't do it on my own. Without His love and strength, I have nothing.
    
    He truly did heal me but all it would take for me to be right back in my own hell is to use one time. one pill...one drink and i'm gone. i know that now. I dont have any more "one mores" in me. Thankfully, I'm not alone either. God gave me His love, His strength and His peace and then He surrounded me with people that would help me stay strong and on the right track.
    
    To those that think that we get "cured". keep coming back is all I can say.

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