New Hospice Nurse says HI!

Published

Hello everyone!

I've just changed jobs from med surg to hospice and will be starting on Oct 15th. It's in a hospital setting (very clean compared to med surg!), will have 4 patient load, with a mix of hospice, palliative, and med surg. I've already seen the reading list posted and will be starting my readings soon. I don't have a handbook for med surg so if anyone knows of a good one for that please share.

Any advice you care to share will also be appreciated. Thanks and I look forward to sharing my experiences here in the future.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

welcome to inpatient hospice!

acuity levels are much higher:

some w/heroic measures, most do not.

palliative pts will come and go.

most of our hospice pts stay til the end.

it's an honor working in this specialty.

i hope you find it as rewarding as i have.

it's important to have healthy outlets on your off-time.

you'll find your own unique way with coping.

for books, i used to have a ton.

but now i only use, Notes on Symptom Control in Hospice & Palliative Care, Peter Kaye.

best of everything in your new career.

leslie

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Welcome to the hospice specialty!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Welcome to hospice! I've only been in this specialty for five months, but I can't imagine going back to tele/stepdown now, at least not full time (I'm still per diem at the hospital). I do home hospice, and the acuity even in the home can be unbelievable--versed gtts, morphine and fentanyl and dilaudid gtts, tube feeds and ports to access....initally I worried about "losing skills" in home hospice, but in fact I feel like my skills are actually sharper now. (Especially with ports...I was always scared of 'em before!)

Look forward to hearing more about your new position!

Andrea

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment