pfeliks

I give up. What does SOA stand for?

FWIW, I have never thought of my job as a Hospice Nurse to be particularly sad.

You can start by turning off your "caps-lock".

I have been in Hospice for four years. I am lucky in that the company I work for has 2 dedicated on-call nurses. They cover ALL after hours work. Case Managers never have to take on-call.

My hospice is in the process of transitioning from its own proprietary software to HCHB. We are in our "couch visit" phase where we are entering all of our patient's data into HCHB. I still don't know what documenting on a visit looks like. For my couch visits I've been choosing around 6 pathways per patient. I'm guessing that the pathways will drive the documentation. Dose 6 pathways for a patient sound about right?

4 visits a day is the goal at the Hospice at which I work. But visits are weighted differently. Routine=1 Recert=2 admission =3.

Another small thing. When visiting a patient in a facility you are going to taker Vital Signs as part of your assessment. Offer the results of your vital signs to the nurse taking care of the patient. H/She may have a "list" of "to dos" which may include vital signs. You've just checked that box for them. It's a small thing but nurses will often thank me.

At the Hospice at which I work, LPN's are not allowed to take call fro the exact reasons you state. I'm in Massachusetts.

In my three years as a RNCM, I have never had to start an iv or do phelbotmy.

The software that your company uses from EMR is going to drive what your plan of care is going to look like.

If you are thinking that Hospice Case Management will relieve you from "bedside" nursing, you are wrong.

I agree. There is not much information to be found on what end stage will look like. I had a patient with neurofirbromatosis Type2. This was a new disease to me. I went to the internet to search for what to expect at the end of life with this disease. I found nothing! I just had to use my nursing knowledge and realize this patient had a progressive neuro disease. I think sometimes we nurses know more than we think we do.

Just an FYI. You'll need some time as a Hospice Nurse prior to being eligible for sitting for the examination: 'To be eligible for the HPCC CHPN® Examination, an applicant must hold a current, unrestricted registered nurse license in the United States, its territories, or the equivalent in Canada and must also have hospice and palliative nursing practice of 500 hours in the most recent 12 months or 1000 hours in the most recent 24 months prior to applying for the examination."

It sounds to me like your liasons are practicing Nursing without a license. Determination of Eligibility is a Nursing/Doctor decision, not an unlicensed liasons decision.

I work for a small office. 3 full time case managers with a census of around 40. We have 2 dedicated on call nurses. They each work one week on and one week off. They cover from 5pm to 8 am on weekdays and from Froday at 5 pm to Monday at 8 am. When they want a day off they negotiate with each other for coverage. Case managers very rarely are asked to volunteer to cover call.