Any suggestions for me?

what do you hate about bedside nursing? Perhaps you need to give it more time?

what do you hate about bedside nursing? Perhaps you need to give it more time?

That's what everyone tells me and, to be honest, I am not exactly sure what it is that I hate. It could be the lawsuit threats (I was threatened with lawsuits twice in my first 6 months)or it could be the fact that it is very disheartening seeing the same people over and over, but I cannot stand much more of it. I actually had friends advise me to get out of the hospital setting altogether because it makes me so miserable, but I wanted to stick with what I knew when I moved out of state because everything else was going to be so different.

Re: the lawsuit threats, neither of them were something that I did and the families told me that, but the families were upset that there was a bad outcome for each pt.

I can understand how you feel because I also don't enjoy bedside nursing. If it makes you that unhappy, you should definitely leave.

What I hear you saying is that you believe that you would enjoy hospice nursing, but you are offering a lot of excuses as to why you can't do it. I'm pointing this out because I believe that people sometimes make excuses when they are unhappy, because to them, the situation seems hopeless. I used to do the same thing when I was a bedside nurse. I thought I would never be able to find a job outside of the hospital because of my lack of experience and if I did, I still wouldn't like it. It was just a cycle of hopelessness and I felt that I couldn't break it.

There is nothing left to do except stay where you and remain miserable or try to find something that you will enjoy. If you think that you will enjoy hospice, that is the place to start. Trust me, no job is going to be perfect. But if you enjoy at least 70% of it, the negatives will not seem like such a big deal. Good luck!

Thank you for your insight. I called the new hire support person last week and I am going to try to be placed somewhere else. You are right that any job has it's pitfalls, but I think anything has to be better than bedside nursing (for me) at this point. I will definately tell her I want to give Hospice a shot. Thanks!

Hi;

I'm hardly ever on here but saw your thread....I have been a nurse for 13 years and have done nearly everything in nursing...including med/surg/tele and several years in hospice - some home hospice and some inpatient hospice. What questions do you have? Can I help?

If you want to do hospice, go for it! See if you can "shadow" a nurse in both areas of hospice.

Doing home hospice or case management is nice because you know your patients well and it can be quite autonomous and rewarding. However, traffic (plus gas prices) is a major issue so you'd better be really organized...it's not a "clock in and clock out" job. You may feel like you are always working. If you have partner in case management it can be good or bad depending on whether your styles mesh.

Working in an inpatient setting is different - it was very acute and very busy....again, I never got off even close to on time....(it's not like you can ask patients not to die at change of shift). You have to be a "jack of all trades" nurse....you never know what you'll see or have to do. It's not a job for new grads...you need good hands-on skills experience. It's very REAL. I loved that....no beating around the bush. Yes, you see a lot of death. I've lost 3 patients within a couple of hours. I cried a lot. I laughed, too.

That being said, it's wonderful, intimate work. I loved it. I did it for 3 years but once I had my own children, couldnt keep up the physical/mental/emotional pace and had to leave. I miss it, though. It's VERY draining and VERY rewarding...not just any old job. Get any book on "boundaries" that you can find...you'll need it.

If you feel a need to do hospice nursing and do actually have an idea of what it's like, do it. Not many people like that kind of nursing but if it's "YOU" then you'll love it. Also, read the book "Final Gifts" written by two hospice nurses.

You can always be a hospice volunteer - you take a weekend of classes and it's @ 4 hrs a week.

forgot to say -

dont give up too soon. Every job and every field of nursing is a little different. I love to learn and I hate to be bored ....plus I was a traveling nurse....so I've had 13? jobs in 13 years (some jobs were temporary).

You can do almost any job if there is good morale on the unit and if you like your coworkers....but a good job still sucks if you hate your coworkers and morale is poor. Unfortunately, the "culture" of the unit is not something you can determine at the job interview - you have to work there awhile first. Even if a job is horrible, stick it out for a year so it doesnt look bad on your resume...then get the heck outta there on day 356 and do something totally different. I didnt like med/surg tele at all...it's a factory and I felt like a slave....but I'm grateful I did it right out of nursing school because I learned A LOT and got organized....I gained a lot of skills that helped me in subsequent jobs. Dont do cath lab if you know it's not for you....just because you can do the job, doesnt mean you should.

Hi;

I'm hardly ever on here but saw your thread....I have been a nurse for 13 years and have done nearly everything in nursing...including med/surg/tele and several years in hospice - some home hospice and some inpatient hospice. What questions do you have? Can I help?

If you want to do hospice, go for it! See if you can "shadow" a nurse in both areas of hospice.

Doing home hospice or case management is nice because you know your patients well and it can be quite autonomous and rewarding. However, traffic (plus gas prices) is a major issue so you'd better be really organized...it's not a "clock in and clock out" job. You may feel like you are always working. If you have partner in case management it can be good or bad depending on whether your styles mesh.

Working in an inpatient setting is different - it was very acute and very busy....again, I never got off even close to on time....(it's not like you can ask patients not to die at change of shift). You have to be a "jack of all trades" nurse....you never know what you'll see or have to do. It's not a job for new grads...you need good hands-on skills experience. It's very REAL. I loved that....no beating around the bush. Yes, you see a lot of death. I've lost 3 patients within a couple of hours. I cried a lot. I laughed, too.

That being said, it's wonderful, intimate work. I loved it. I did it for 3 years but once I had my own children, couldnt keep up the physical/mental/emotional pace and had to leave. I miss it, though. It's VERY draining and VERY rewarding...not just any old job. Get any book on "boundaries" that you can find...you'll need it.

If you feel a need to do hospice nursing and do actually have an idea of what it's like, do it. Not many people like that kind of nursing but if it's "YOU" then you'll love it. Also, read the book "Final Gifts" written by two hospice nurses.

You can always be a hospice volunteer - you take a weekend of classes and it's @ 4 hrs a week.

I actually followed some nurses through Hospice already. Throughout my BSN program, I chose Hospice as my clinicals whenever i could. I like the fact that you have more autonomy, but I was never there when a pt died so i really don't know how I would handle it. I like going to their homes and feeling like they wanted my help and were glad to have me there. It's so different from bedside nursing and I think that it is something that I could learn to love.

I spoke with our new hire support coordinator again today and she is going to try and place me in a home hospice situation. I am excited and of course nervous, but can't wait. I have been sick since Monday and actually ended up leaving work early tonight and I can't help but wonder if it stress related. Hopefully, it is just stress related and I didn't pass a bug to my pt's.