Let's discuss productivity in home hospice/palliative

[nutella, MSN, RN]

Hi,

I have been working in home palliative and hospice for a year.

It is a great field to work in, very satisfying and a lot of gratification. I use all the skills I ever used.

Unfortunately it is also a constantly short staffed area. It is not easy to case manage and carry the case load without falling into overtime and the constant pressure to take on more visits than agreed upon hiring. Because the visits in hospice and palliative care can be long due to the nature of complex illness it is important to me that I have enough time to address all concerns - at the same time I can not work overtime. I manage to stay within regular work time with my own case load but there are always "additional" visits that are offered to nurses. Pressure to take on additional visits is high. I belong to Generation X and value my time off work, I have a family with children and I am also in grad school. It is definitely not my goal to work overtime.

How do fellow home hospice/palliative nurses view overtime? Do you think it is "just part of the job due to fluctuations" or are you able to work without overtime. How often do fall below productivity and how often (per week) do you end up above productivity? If you do not mind, would you also be willing to share which generation you belong to?