Palliative Care and New Grads

[frozenyogurt]

Hi nurses/future nurses!

I am a recent new grad. I am currently unemployed so I have been looking into different nursing specialties lately. I did my final clinical placement in acute medicine. For the most part, I enjoyed the pace and the fact that I can put many nursing skills into use. I initially thought I want to start my career in acute medicine or general surgery and eventually move on to OR in the future but I don't think OR is really for me, considering I like the patient interaction part of nursing. So my question is...

What is palliative nursing like within the hospital setting? What nursing skills are typically used? What is the pace like? Would you recommend a new grad to begin their career in palliative care? Any comment/advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[Fiona59]

Get some general nursing experience under your belt first. You need to hone your assessment and people skills before you take on a specialty like Palliative.

The unit I work on gets short term palliative patients, those with life expectancy of less than three days. It's not something our manager assigns to new nurses. Compassionate care can be draining.

[linzz]

I agree. Palliative care is tough.

[loriangel14, RN]

I have been at my current(also my first)job for 3 years and i have eased into the palliative care over time. It is not something that everyone is comfortable with but I really enjoy it. Fiona is right, some general experience would be good before you got into palliative care, especially if you were going to be dealing with them exclusively. You will need good assessment skills, pain management knowledge and experience dealing with families.The palliative patients that my floor gets are sometimes with us for a matter of weeks and you will learn about the different stages and what to expect when a patient is palliating.

[RescueNinja]

I am a new grad too so I can't offer the advice from experience like the previous posters did, but if you find a job that will train you appropriately and whatnot I wouldn't pass it up...it's a tough market!