Published Mar 10, 2010
twokidsmom,rn
198 Posts
Hi
I graduated from a RN diploma program May 2008. I have worked on a medical surgical floor in a hospital, and recently started working on a medical floor at a VA that is 5min from home. It is full time nights with everyother weekend. I truly am not happy on this unit. I am considering a full time days for a hospice company but it is in a different state which is about 45min from home. It is Mon-Fri days NO WEEKENDS NO NIGHTS. I do have 2 school aged kids who do not like my current hours. THey say I sleep during the weekends and they can tell I am not happy. Any advise, should I leave the VA and go with the hospice company that is in a different state or just stick it out with the VA in hopes it gets better or I can eventually transfer units.
leslie :-D
11,191 Posts
well, it seems you have enough med/surg experience to go into hospice...
but if you do, i would try and research this hospice org thoroughly.
there are hospices that still treat its employees and pts suboptimally.
although i don't do home hospice, i'd imagine you'd want to find out your case load, and how much territory you'd be expected to cover.
i hated working nocs, and just about any job would have looked more attractive, so i understand, believe me.
whatever you decide, just do your homework, and don't do anything impulsively.
(i work inpt hospice and LOVE it).
leslie
Whispera, MSN, RN
3,458 Posts
I'd question whether it's truly "no weekends, no nights." Hospice patients need care during those times too, of course. Is there someone on-call during those hours? Are you expected to take your turn being on-call? Definitely find out about that before you start because on-call can eat up a weekend or night very easily.