Hospice House - What to expect?

[chillin4me]

i have been working in a nursing home for 2years and 6months at present, i am thinking of quitting the job due to some circumstances, like short-staff, no support from the management, and etc.

There is a newly-built hospice house in the area and they are hiring Hospice House RN, I am thinking of putting an application. Nursing home was my only experience. What should I expect in working to a Hospice House? Please help me, i will be putting my application this week. Thank you

[Deenurse1]

Congratulations chilceb! Our HH is 1:4 with 2 techs during the day and 1:4 with 1 tech at night. It can be very busy at times and other times less busy. The census changes daily. Our HH does better financially than our field side care. My frustration goes more with management or co-workers than the patients and their families. It can be difficult when families have not been with some one dying before. There is lots of ongoing education. Before I started in hospice I checked out many books from the library to get all kinds of perspectives. We do give medications often to manage symptoms. I struggle sometimes with caring too much but I still feel like this is what I am supposed to do. When families share their appreciation I know I've done a job well done.

Best of luck to you!!!

[chillin4me]

The management already told me i will have 1:12 pts at night, in my present ltc job i have 1:48 pts, so i thought census is way better than my present job. I am a bit anxious about it because this will be my 1st hospice job, although i have pts in LTC that are hospice.. Thank you @Deenurse1 can you tell me your typical day at your hospice house?

[Caffeine_IV]

12 seems a high number for night. We had a lot of charting to do, multiple patients with uncontrolled symptoms and demanding families.

[chillin4me]

i already got the job, i am now training/orienting. i was already able to shadow in AM shift. it was pretty intense. i saw a lot of charting... you do assessment everyday in your shift., on Days for 12hrs shift it's 2:12 with 1 aide... i hope i can keep up and do it smoothly when i start working alone.. i think it's the charting, documentation, and and all the writings are making the shift so busy even u have less pts

[toomuchbaloney]

The staffing there seems a bit thin to me but it really depends upon the mix of your patients.

Some hospice residences have a reasonably high percentage of their beds filled with relatively stable long term patients with ability to pay the room and board. The facility then maintains a certain number of beds for the admissions of patients from their field census who require respite or GIP level of care for symptom management.

Many hospice houses or residences are licensed as SNFs.

A GIP patient can be very time consuming but they are typically either dead or stabilized and returned home within 3 days, in my experience.

Good luck.