Med/surg to Inpatient hospice empath health job

[BrendaH84, BSN]

I live in Florida right across the road from a hospice / empath health Building. I have walked in there to check it out , it is a beautiful inpatient place with private rooms for hospice patients. I know nothing about being a hospice nurse except on my med-surg floor I have certainly had plenty of hospice patients who are waiting to transfer home or to go into a hospice inpatient place. Mostly it's been pain medicine, wound care and keeping the family feeling as though I am caring as best I can for their loved one. I have worked med-surg for many years , and like most nursing jobs I feel overworked and underappreciated & i drive far LOL. I keep thinking I should apply to the hospice across the street from me at least I would be close to home. But I wonder what it would be like knowing that every patient i have is going to die? Is that very depressing?

[MSO4foru, ADN]

So.. here are my thoughts as RN who had done his pics for last 10 yrs- no this job is not depressing. It is in fact quite rewarding IF you can can come to terms that as a hospice nurse, yes, ALL of your patients are dying. They will die regardless of your presence. If you are a really good nurse, who k bbn owns how to communicate we with your MD- this can be a very beautiful job. If you are considering this line - Ask: expected case load/ expected visits per week-"what happe n.v s if caseload runs over/ what do I do if get attached to longer than expected term pt.. . I have done homecare ( hospice) in past - my workplace did not give me more than salary although probably vfc worked ( on average 10_ 30 hrs beyond) what was being p as yes for.

[BrendaH84, BSN]

I am talking about an inpatient facility. I did apply and they called me back, I just left a voicemail that yes I'd still like an interview. But I do still worry about whether I would like it versus working in the hospital.

[MSO4foru, ADN]

Everything is relative- in hospice your job is make sure these folks are comfortable. You are not trying to ' save them'. It's a very different mindset than acute care. You will be busy- between educating families and just day to day tasks. Somedays are hectic. It can be a difficult trade off. Everyday you work, your pts will die. They were going to die. Your job is to make that as comfy and easy as it can be- if you take this job. Hospice nursing is not easy. Just different.

[BrendaH84, BSN]

I had the interview today for one of the hospice care centers . They told me the software was really slow (i asked) She said it takes more than an hour to key in an admission. It is salary , i might end up working an awful lot and never make overtime. of course i would end up working overtime if I'm doing my own admissions. They didn't let me talk to any nurses when I interviewed so I couldn't ask what they thought. I don't think I would like a home care visits. Those are 5 days a week minimum, and also salary . it sounds like rhis wouldnt be a good fit for me, which is unfortunate because I feel like Hospice Care is an important and rewarding job

[vampiregirl, BSN, RN]

I've worked both inpatient and home hospice. For me, I love my current job which is hospice case manager for small, local non-profit with a commitment to quality.

Both inpatient and home hospice can be great IF you work for a good company. Good leadership and a strong team (Social Work, Spiritual Care and aides) are essential.

Learning good self care is also critical. Hospice done right is ensuring that patient's symptoms are well managed and that the caregivers have the education and support they need to care for their loved ones. Hospice can be sad but there is also a lot of joy and satisfaction with hospice nursing. It's a sacred privilege to be present for some of the things I've witnessed.

I would be a little cautious about salary. I've not worked a salary position in hospice but have worked salary positions before... and am not sure I would again in the future.

[vampiregirl, BSN, RN]

On 8/21/2019 at 11:16 AM, BrendaH84 said:

They told me the software was really slow (i asked) She said it takes more than an hour to key in an admission.

An hour for an admission isn't bad at all. When I worked inpatient, I could complete an admission in 2 hours if I didn't have interruptions and I was considered one of the quickest. Where I work now in home hospice, it typically takes 2-4 hours to complete all the tasks associated with an admission depending on the complexity of the patient. Not only the software, but the tasks associated with admissions can make a huge difference in time requirements.

[pmabraham, BSN, RN]

As a home-hospice RN case manager, an admission typically runs 1 to 2 hours in the pt/family home, then anywhere from 2 to 4 hours of charting time (office or home office). I get paid hourly, and it would be a hard press to consider moving to a salary position.

[BrendaH84, BSN]

why do admissions take so long? Ive been used to hospital admits. family history, pt history,meds, and physical assessment

[nrcnurse]

I have worked for Empath. The patients in the Hospice Care Centers are there for symptom management, not long term. Their symptoms were not manageable at home, so they were sent to the Care Center. Yes, some of the patients will die; most will go back home. Admissions to the Care Center are NOT full admissions to Hospice. Those have already been done. The software is Suncoast Solutions, and any slowness has to do with the servers and the IT department. One of the really nice things about Hospice is that you don't have to worry about killing anyone (not that you would do so purposefully!) as opposed the the specter of "possibly" causing a death in the hospital. You will have more opportunity to spend meaningful time with patients, as opposed to running in to dispense pills and disappearing until the next meds are due.