How does one avoid burn out??

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It depends on alot. Including the agency you work for and their own policies. Although for the most part hospice agencies all have the same goals, there are little bits of fluff that vary from company to company like on call hours, case load, work area etc.

I balance my home life with a few simple rules.

#1 if I am not on call. No notes, patient info or work related anything is allowed in my home. This is my sanctuary and I refuse to share it with work. ( I keep my goods locked up in our garage.

#2 Weekly Pedicures! I know it sounds lame, but any kind of pampering is good. It's a relatively cheap expense here in Cali.

#3 Time with family. Weather it be on the weekend, dinner whatever

#4 Hobbies that have NOTHING to due with Hospice. I have a friend who is a fab photographer who also is a hospice RN. She does end of life pictures.. meaning as patients decline she will have consents signed and take meaningful photos for the family. It's all gratis, but she plans on doing a book or whatnot. This hobby in my eyes is wonderful.. but it also has caused her to be burned out.... take pictures of things that are meaningful, not related to you work. This would be a huge difference for my friend. OR... If she saved her pics and worked on them after retirement... ( which is soon )

I ride my bike on weekends with my spouse. I also have done 60+ miles rides and this allows a good cleansing of my mind and stress..

I have been doing this 8 years and I promise you the only time I thought I was burned out was due to a bad or non supportive work environment.

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Specializes in hospice, home care, LTC.

Learn to say no. "Can you handle this 4P admission? Since you're nearby, swing by a see So and So...etc". Hospice will eat you up if you let it. Set your boundries and STICK TO THEM!

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Specializes in Hospice.

I absolutely NEVER answer my phone when on-call. I did not do this at first and it was very difficult for me to avoid thinking about work all the time. This has made a huge difference.

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I think you meant you never answer you phone when not on call. :)

I had a job a number of years back... I had my cell phone on by accident. It was 7pm on a Friday and I was NOT on call. It was my supervisor asking if I could drive 35 miles south to to an admission. I told her I could not as I was out. She said.. "well... we will have to talk about this on Monday."

That conversation never happened because I told her.. ah, I don't think so. I am out to dinner and I have had two glasses of wine. Is there something wrong with me doing this on my own time???

It was never brought up again, and that excuse of having 2 glasses of wine has always worked if I was stupid enough to pick up my phone on my own time.

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