nuncle265

Right now I have 13 patients, all but one are 2x wk and I have one I'm seeing every day. Most days are 6-7 patient loads, with Wednesday having 4 to "accommodate" staff meetings (who am I kidding, this is the day I finish the latest). These are new patients however, they've changed my assignment at least five times, and I've only been here six months. It's mostly been due to staff coming and going so quickly, which has been a common theme in this thread. It's very difficult to adjust to 12-14 patients all at once every few weeks and go through the motions of introducing myself to family, doing med recs, form audits, supply lists, etc. The first few weeks always takes extra time anyways due to all the aforementioned, and then they give me a whole new bunch in another few weeks. Sometimes I wonder if they want me to quit. I actually told my boss once that my goal was to have ALL my work done at five so I can actually plan a life for myself outside of work. She just smiled and nodded. I frequently hear the "I love what I do so I don't mind" mantra. Obviously I understand that sometimes I'm going to have overtime, and I'm ok with sometimes, but not ALL the time.

Hello, First post here. I started my nursing career in private duty home health and after a year started working in Tele at a local hospital. I dreaded each shift, it was far too busy, and most nights I was not getting home until 2200. I left after 8 months and took a good hard look at what I wanted out of nursing. I didn't have a lot of experience, but I applied to Hospice companies as I have always agreed with the hospice philosophy and was attracted to, what appeared to be, a 9-5 M-F gig. I have been with my hospice company for 6 months now and I have never been so over-worked and exhausted in my entire life. It started out fine, but within a month I was working 10-20 hours of over time a week, with maybe a week or two where I actually worked 40 hours. I'm salary so all this extra work is just that - extra work. A large part of the problem is that I would have 8-10 patients in one area, and then 4-5 that are scattered about the Phoenix metro, which makes for a lot of additional travel time and mileage on my personal vehicle. And if one of those patients transitions, has a fall, or something else comes up - i have to rearrange my whole schedule in order to accommodate a visit, which has caused issues with other patients, but there simply aren't enough hours in the day. I'm lucky if I get any kind of break during the day, save for a quick 5 minute run to the bathroom. I usually finish around 2000 or 2100, leaving me hardly any time at all to have a life outside of work. Our company recognizes 6 holidays, but forces you to use your accumulated PTO to take the day off. You are not allowed to work if you weren't selected to cover the holiday. My two days off a week I spend mostly laying in bed, hoping I have enough energy to conquer the next week and keep my patients and their families happy and comfortable. Basically, these working conditions are not sustainable. I absolutely love caring for these patients and their families but I can't take the over time or the lack of a life anymore. Are these conditions unique for a hospice case manager or is this simply the norm in this specialty? I fear that things will not be different at any other company and my days in nursing will come to an end. There are so many more careers that are as equally rewarding and do not demand so much sacrifice.