Before Hospice

[Guest941822]

Hello, everyone.

I am considering nursing purely to be a hospice nurse. I hear that most hospices prefer nurses to have general experience first, which is understandable.

Can you tell me:

1) How long you worked as a nurse prior to your hospice job?

2) In what specialties you worked (or that you wished you'd have worked) prior to working in hospice?

Basically, I'm trying to get an idea of how much nursing experience is preferred by hospice employers before they'll hire you, and in what specialties I should work to provide me with a good foundation for hospice work.

(I admit it's almost pure torture to consider *not* being a hospice nurse immediately upon graduation, but I do want to provide the best care possible for my patients and their families, even if that means getting experience in a different specialty.)

Thank you!

[midazoslam]

Hi there,

I've worked in aged psychiatry for the past three years, and before that I did my grad year. I did a short course in palliative care and came across a position for inpatient pall care which I applied for and was surprisingly successful. I start on 03/03!

Good luck and I can see you're passionate and determined - keep that up throughout uni and you'll do great.

Midaz

[nutella, MSN, RN]

I certainly wish I was still with them. They had only 10 positions in the unit, 2 of which were for CNAs. I was incredibly fortunate to get one, although I worked there only 4 months. Unfortunately, we had to relocate with my husband's job.

A recent experience with hospice in the illness and death of a family member has only intensified my desire to go back to school and pursue hospice nursing.

But hopefully that will look good to them when the time comes.

Thank you for your input!

Hi OP - I commend you for your wish to go back to school to become a nurse.

I think it is good to have a vision or strong motif because nursing school is demanding and requires a lot of dedication, focus, and determination. I have met students who had a specific area in mind when they started nursing school but ended up somewhere else because of their experience while in clinicals. If you decide to go back to school keep an open mind. With increasing age, experience and circumstances different career choices can become more enticing or make more sense.

Good luck!

[vampiregirl, BSN, RN]

I was a SNF nurse for 4 years prior to becoming a hospice nurse, including 1 year in SNF management (staff development). I also had 17 years experience in EMS, 6 years phlebotomy experience and 6 years CNA experience. All of this experience together gave me a good base to draw from.

Excellent assessment skills and critical thinking skills are essential as a hospice nurse. I think that most areas of nursing allow these to be developed if effort is put into it. I look at my co-workers at hospice - we are quite the diverse group! Experience prior to hospice includes labor/ delivery, peds, school (including college clinic) nursing, critical care, and home care. All of us have different areas of clinical strength.

[Smccot]

I worked 3 years on a med surg floor. I learned how to do so many things that I wouldn't have gotten to do coming out of school and going straight to hospice. I think my assessment skills have gotten better since I have become a hospice nurse and most certainly my disease process is better. I don't regret my 3 years on a medical floor. What was strange was on day 2 of my orientation I was sent to a patients home as he was in distress. It was a patient I had in the hospital. The family immediately relaxed because they already knew me. I was scared to death.

[djh123]

I would consider being a LTC nurse. It won't be as much of a 'chore' as it sounds like you might find some other types of nursing before you get to be an actual hospice nurse. I say that because you're already a bit of a hospice nurse when you're a LTC nurse. I have dealt with numerous residents on hospice, have worked with several hospice nurses (who come in to my facility from outside hospice agencies), and so on. I don't know how many years a hospice agency/entity would want you to have before working for them, but I'd suspect it would vary a bit.

[nutella, MSN, RN]

I would consider being a LTC nurse. It won't be as much of a 'chore' as it sounds like you might find some other types of nursing before you get to be an actual hospice nurse. I say that because you're already a bit of a hospice nurse when you're a LTC nurse. I have dealt with numerous residents on hospice, have worked with several hospice nurses (who come in to my facility from outside hospice agencies), and so on. I don't know how many years a hospice agency/entity would want you to have before working for them, but I'd suspect it would vary a bit.

There is some exposure to hospice, hospice philosophy and symptom management in SNF. But from there to hospice is still a steep learning curve.

[Guest941822]

I was a new grad on an inpatient unit. I was very well prepared with the training ...plus I had been a hospice cna. I didn't stay more than 2 year . I was drawn to hospice for similar reasons but eventually as my grief evolved so did my career interests and I wanted a more diversified resume

Thank you for your input.

[Guest941822]

Hi there,

I've worked in aged psychiatry for the past three years, and before that I did my grad year. I did a short course in palliative care and came across a position for inpatient pall care which I applied for and was surprisingly successful. I start on 03/03!

Good luck and I can see you're passionate and determined - keep that up throughout uni and you'll do great.

Midaz

Thank you!

[Guest941822]

I was a SNF nurse for 4 years prior to becoming a hospice nurse, including 1 year in SNF management (staff development). I also had 17 years experience in EMS, 6 years phlebotomy experience and 6 years CNA experience. All of this experience together gave me a good base to draw from.

Excellent assessment skills and critical thinking skills are essential as a hospice nurse. I think that most areas of nursing allow these to be developed if effort is put into it. I look at my co-workers at hospice - we are quite the diverse group! Experience prior to hospice includes labor/ delivery, peds, school (including college clinic) nursing, critical care, and home care. All of us have different areas of clinical strength.

Thank you!

[Guest941822]

I would consider being a LTC nurse. It won't be as much of a 'chore' as it sounds like you might find some other types of nursing before you get to be an actual hospice nurse. I say that because you're already a bit of a hospice nurse when you're a LTC nurse. I have dealt with numerous residents on hospice, have worked with several hospice nurses (who come in to my facility from outside hospice agencies), and so on. I don't know how many years a hospice agency/entity would want you to have before working for them, but I'd suspect it would vary a bit.

Thank you!

[Stacey01]

I have been a nurse for 31 years...a bit more than 10 of those years as a hospice nurse. Prior to hospice I worked in ICU, ER, PACU, Home Health, ortho/ neuro trauma , and for a brief period was an ADON at a skilled nursing facility ( * shudder...God bless those that can do that...it wasn't for me). My hospice time was broken up .

I worked 7 years..took a much needed break ( after the death of my mother who was enrolled in our hospice program) ..and then re entered hospice a few years later.

First and foremost, I agree with many of the other responses that you really need a solid set of skills before pursuing this. But aside from that, you need the confidence in yourself and your capabilities. I have seen often, newer nurses, who were confident but not really skilled and those that were skilled but lacked confidence. Either one is detrimental for a successful home hospice experience. You are out here , without the ability to poke your head out the door and ask for some help from your peers. You need to know what you're seeing and how to manage it. At our program, and most others as well, we work a lot by standing orders ( or palliative care orders)... Medication ranges that we can institute when we need to based on symptoms. But you need to be comfortable with doing this. You also need to be able to focus. Your schedule and your case management list is yours, and yours alone to manage, and you have to be organized and be able to prioritize and change things on a whim without getting overly stressed/ upset. Most days in hospice is anyone's game...things change on a dime. And then you need the heart, or compassion, for hospice care. It's not an easy road most days , but I can't imagine not doing it. You can learn skills, you can learn how to manage a caseload, you can learn meds and palli orders...ll.but no one can teach you how to be compassionate at the end of life.

Best of luck to you.