How long on average is your visit?

[KYRNCA, BSN]

Hello all... I've been a Hospice nurse for a few months now and I am really enjoying the flexibility and life/work balance. I'm a case manager with about 17 patients. Most of them are Alzheimer's patients on slow decline who reside at different assisted living facilities and get excellent care. Most are nonverbal and I feel like there's not much I "need" to do. I do vitals but there's not a lot (if any) interaction... they are all stable so not a lot of "nursing" needed so visits are very short. I get in touch with families over the phone if there's any COC which is not frequent. Anybody with a similar situation? Is this the norm?

[RNBearColumbus, BSN]

I'd say your experience is fairly normal.

I see both home patients and patients in facilities. My facility visits are usually much shorter than my home visits. As you've seen, in a facility there is much less "case managing" that needs to be done. You don't need to order / reorder meds, you don't usually have do any treatments, and with non verbal patients there is much less opportunity for social interaction. I spend more time at facilities talking to the staff nurses, making sure they have the resources they need to care for the patient, and that they have all the needed comfort meds in place. My average time for a facility visit is about 20 minutes if there are no new developments or needs. ( My average home visit is roughly 30-45 minutes, sometimes longer if the patient likes to be social or needs meds refilled etc.).

[pmabraham, BSN, RN]

Good day, RNBearColumbus:

I'm starting as a hospice RN this coming Monday the 9th of April. I'm told most of my patients will be home-based vs. nursing homes. Do you have any tips for preparing for and handling those types of visits?

Thank you.

[cardiacfreak, ADN]

I'm the on call nurse so my visits are usually longer than half an hour because of symptom management. On average my visits are 60 -90 minutes depending on the patient and family needs.

[Airamine]

Company policy is at least 30 minutes preferred 45. Mine run about 45-90.