hospice work schedule question

Hospice does require a level of commitment (kind of like being a postal worker--neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor hail...). However, it is essential to balance your work and home life to be able to give of yourself to your patients when they need you. A frank, candid discussion with the company you are considering employment with is a must. Have them describe a typical day, week, month for a case manager including any on-call rotations. Hospices very greatly in their expectations. Some have commited to hiring separate on-call staff so that day staff has permanent relief, others, expect case management to rotate on-call schedules. Ask how on-call is handled, even better, ask how on call is handled in the event there are staff losses. (I have been in companies that started with on-call staff and decided to axe them in census shortages and turned to a nursing rotation). Ask about on-call expectations, what relief is if you are out all night, what the compensation is for on-call, what your back-up system is for on-call, etc. On-call is usually the greatest stressor for hospice nurses, and believe me, the requirements vary widly from company to company.

sorry-duplicate response

Sorry everybody, we have had a terrible ice storm here and things aren't working well internet-wise. I hit refresh twice and it finally sent three responses to the same question

Thanks for the reply. It is always good to hear directly from someone in the trench. The nurse recruiter tends to give a rosier picture than reality.

rnboysmom, I hope you faired well during the ice storm. My sister was also in a severe ice storm in the pacific northwest and went without power or phone for almost a week. It makes one appreciate our daily conveniences.

I agree that work schedules vary from Hospice to Hospice, so you really need to ask the right questions as stated. Our typical work week is 8:30a-5p M-F with no call as we have two call nurses to cover. However if they need a day off or a vacation then we have to cover call and rotate it between 4 nurses. Some nights yield no calls and others have a nurse out for most of the night in which case she takes the next day off to sleep. For we older nurses that may take several days to catch up on our rest. Still there is nothing I'd rather do then Hospice/Palliative care nursing. Good luck . :heartbeat

Outwest

Thanks for the concern. We are in the southern tip of Indiana ad had almost 100,000 without power, Kentucky is just across the river and they still have greater than 50,000 without power (and over a week out). Most of our area was resroted over the weekend. I was one of the lucky 35% that didn't lose power in the area, but my whole extended family was in the dark--so I have had visitors for days!! Just got my house back and quiet last night--but I am thankful that the Good Lord provided for us! Althought the physical losses will be in the BILLIONS the loss of life has been minimal

Our nurses work 10 hr days, if fulltime 4 days Mon thru Fri. We are blessed right now with nurses that want to just do call & weekends. I job share a case manager position, so I work a week on then a week off.

ShariWN, that makes me want to move where you are! at least it gives me hope that may be our work schedules could get more "user friendly" - i feel exhausted many weekends and just catch up on my sleep and the laundry; then again today was an easy day for a change, so no complaints :onbch:

I applied online and also took a cover letter/resume to the hospice I applied at in Ga. Am hoping to hear something soon. I am tired of working 12 hrs in the hospital - have done it for so many years - I need something..more. I was offered a hopice on-call position but its a very small, privately owned hospice so the pay would be literally $2.00/hr which means taking call for the month would be about $1000 before taxes. Can't manage that so I'm hoping for something else. I am willing to work M-F - at least for awhile - for me, the 12 hrs are just too much now.

on call positions are salaried............you should have been offered 40hrs a week salaried whether you have any calls or not--some weekends i work 70 hrs other weekends I work 20hrs----usually the 2dollars/hr is for the hourly nurses that take extra call to cover the weekend call nurse.

no one in their right mind would consider $2/hr when in all actuality you are working more than the 9-5 nurses

linda

Thank you - I realize this is a small agency - 16 patients but the expectation to take call EVERY night and EVERY weekend for $2.00 and only get paid above that if I happen to go out - which it sounds like would be rare is something I just can't do. Thanks for replying!

I too work in Hospice and am currently enjoying my call weekend. I do get 2 dollars for beeper pay per hour but a flat rate on the weekend based upon the number of calls/visits. We are also paid for admissions and death visits while on call. It is tough at times but also very rewarding work. I do wish we had a better back up when the lead RN is going on just a couple of hours of sleep.

Most hospice jobs are not 8-5 everyday. I do work M-F 8-5 with a call day during the week, then weekends on a rotating shift. Currently we are short nurses due to low census and are having to back up each other many weekends. I worked last weekend as back up and this is my lead call weekend. I work more than nine hours quite often and have worked many 12+ hours days, especially on call. Our office schedule the routine visits and then there are the calls for prn visits that you add to that.

I do have a friend currently in traditional home health that is working 12-16 hour days but her call is very nice, her phone rarely rings.

Good luck!