Does anyone have any information about working for Duke Hospice and Homecare?

RN CHPN · Jan 24, 2010

I was hired by Duke Hospice and left soon after I started. I'm a CHPN with 20 years of experience as a RN and I would not recommend Duke Hospice for the following reasons:

There's no such thing as work-life balance. What they want are "co-dependent" nurses that need an identity and a life purpose in addition to a career, and for a small salary (with no pay for OT or on-call) who willing to make hospice their "lifestyle". Hospice nursing is not a "lifestyle". Duke is exploiting these nurses, as is every hospice that hires a nurse on salary and then has them doing 2 or 3 jobs, day and night.

Hospice is not a lifestyle. Granted, those of us working in hospice are very dedicated to what we do; but no job, to me and to many nurses, especially one that requires working with the terminally ill and their families, should require endless hours of work. It should be 40 hours, case closed. Hospices need nurses around the clock, so let them hire nurses for different shifts, like facilities do. And for different positions. Case managers should not be doing admissions. Being called in the middle of a workday (or, heaven forbid, at the end of one!) to go and "do an admission" -- a process that takes at least 4 hours, if all the planets are aligned, but usually 6 by the time all is said and done -- can require working well into the night! At Duke we were told to "feel free to have dinner with our families, and then settle into a comfortable chair to do all of our documentation". Thanks! (And no OT!)

There ARE hospices that do not exploit nurses; they have case managers / on-call nurses / admissions nurses.

That is the only kind of hospice your should work for. And until that's the only kind of hospice any nurse will work for, we'll have exploitation, burnt-out nurses, and high turnover.

Hospice nurse managers keep their jobs by containing costs, so as long as they have a supply of nurses willing to work innumerable hours for an unfair salary, they'll perpetuate it.

Also, Duke hospice does not have "continuous care" (if you are not familiar, continuous care provides around-the-clock home care for hospice patients in crisis). By not offering this program (which is covered by medicare and other insurance), the case managers and any nurse that's on-call gets slammed with phone calls and unscheduled visits because the unfortunate patient and family members are left in a situation they just are not able to cope with.

Look elsewhere for a job. Duke hospice nurses are stressed-out and miserable.

Heogog53 · Jan 24, 2010

Thanks. The kind of hospice my mom had was 24/7. They were great. When a hurricane came through and knocked the power out, I told my dad to call hospice to get the power turned back on(she had an electrically warmed waterbed). Sure enough, they got to Boston Edison and the power came on within four hours. This was in 1985. Dad was amazed that the hospice could get through when he couldn't. I told him to trust in the hospice- and they came through on several occasions.

I know that home health and hospice can be very crazy with all the unpaid overtime for paperwork. I wouldn't put my livelihood on the line for any institutions.

RN CHPN · Jan 24, 2010

I'm happy you had a good experience with hospice. That's the way hospice service should be...

With the exception that one nurse should not be expected to provide all of the service all of the time.

caliotter3 · Jan 24, 2010

Thanks RN CHPN for providing an overview of your experience.