Anyone a Hospice or Home Heath RN - please share your experiences

Published May 1, 2022

57 Posts

Hello fellow RNs,

I'm a fairly novice nurse with a total of 9 months of inpatient bedside RN experience. I used to be a wide-eyed and bushy tailed new nurse who was eager to become the best bedside RN I could be. Now I've become disillusioned by hospital life. I didn't mind the code browns, rude patients, the fast-pace, or all the unglamorous stuff that nursing entails.

What I could not survive was the politics, egotistical nurses, unfair managers, bullying, and toxic work cultures. I have yet to experience a truly supportive and fair learning environment for a novice nurse. I have resigned from 2 New Nurse programs in my 1st year of nursing alone. I have not completely given up on bedside and am still searching for that healthy work environment. But I am also starting to consider stepping away from the bedside to Home Health and/or Hospice Nursing.

Would any home health or hospice nurses be willing to share your work experiences? How stable is the job? Would I be pigeon-holed if I leave bedside? There is a part of me that is afraid of not being able to return to the bedside if I decide to leave. At the same time, have heard that HH and Hospice allows for 1:1 patient care and allows you time to actually speak to patients - that sounds amazing!

I'm an older nurse that needs to work at least another 10-15 years enough to save for retirement. It would be nice to find a less physically and mentally taxing job in which I am not concerned for the future of my own physical and mental health.

Sincerely,

Lost New Nurse