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G'day to all who pause here today, and thanx for reading my message.

I'm posting out of total frustration today.

I recently started working in home hospice after many years as

a hospital staff nurse in oncology ,and critical care. My favorite, most gratifying work was in oncology. I cherish the opprotunity I was given to care for these patients and their families.

Initially I really loved this job. I was spending real quality time with my patients, and my company was really great to work for as far as resources that I could access on my patient's behalf.

So what's the problem?

Well......

There is the huge burden of paperwork of course,but the real problem for me ,is being on call.

The pay rate is very low, and it consumes my entire day(and night). I'm covering a very large geographic area .

Last night I had to go into totally unfamiliar area,was lost for about an hour.The roads were icy,and I was very tired after putting in a full work day befor call.

I am really considering getting out of hospice nursing if I can;t find some way to manage on call .

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks again for reading all of this rambling.

Have a great day,k?

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Specializes in CVOR,CNOR,NEURO,TRAUMA,TRANSPLANTS.

Managing call is very difficult. I can sympathize with you . When I worked hospice the company covered 3 counties. Most of the directions to the homes consisted of turn at the "tree" well its hard to locate that tree at 3 am. When we pulled call the next day we were OFF because they all knew the night before was horrible. If it wasnt so bad or "quiet" you came in and worked office time and caught up on charting. I kept so much in my car I swear (we had a rubbermaid box with a lil bit of everything) that stayed in my trunk. Beside it was extra paperwork that if I could chart I had supplies to do so. I did all of this and I agree its was more demanding than I had thought it could be. Talk to your HN, tell them your concerns and your difficulties.... If anything I can say I had a WONDERFUL Management, Im sure they dont want to loose you , they may assist you in alternative ways to achieve what needs to be done.

Good Luck

Zoe

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Dear Zoe,

Thanx for the reply.Sigh.... :rolleyes:

I am going to speak with my Clinical manager.I'm fortunate in that they are very nice, and supportive too.

I really want this job to work for me. I love everything about it but that nasty call thingie.

Not gonna give up just yet, although I sure was thinking about giving up last night at 3am.

Have a nice rest of today, and thanks again for the support:)

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