Can you be successful as an inpatient hospice nurse if you are just not a hospital floor nurse?
I have to admit, med/surg or stepdown hospital nursing is not a good fit for me; because I'm detail-oriented, I tended to get overwhelmed with charting. One of the units I worked at (medical/telemetry with lots of pre- and postops) was chaotic and the pt load per nurse high (8 on day shift, but you sometimes started out with 8, discharged 4 before noon and got 4 admits in the afternoon; then I'd be doing some serious charting after shift change). Actually, I'm quite good with paperwork and never had a problem getting my charting completed when I worked in a chronic, outpatient setting for years. But I don't know what it is about the hospital - too many interruptions, perhaps - that always got me behind.
I have always wanted to work hospice at some point in my career, and - since I'm not currently employed - have been a hospice volunteer at a 10-bed hospice inpatient facility since March. What can I say - it's just wonderful compared to the hospital! None of the chaos of a med/surg floor, beautiful surroundings, a calm atmosphere, caring staff who get along... I can't say enough good things about it. I have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with the patients and their families and feel that I have finally found my niche. I would absolutely love to work there, and - after a prolonged freeze - the hospice is finally hiring again. (Hospice field work with on-call requirements would be more difficult at this time for various reasons including young children and an old car.)
I haven't applied yet, but I'd like the input of hospice nurses of how I should "sell myself" to the hiring manager. Even on the most chaotic hospital floor (and I've worked on two) I have always gotten the feedback that I was good with patients and families (my volunteer supervisor and some of the nurses at the facility have told me the same); procedures (e.g., IV starts) are more difficult for me, but with practice I can manage those as well.
If the manager asks me, if you were not a hospital nurse (which I would have to admit, partially to explain why my last job in the hospital didn't last long), so why do you think you can be a good inpatient hospice nurse, how would I answer this? I think I could because this is just such a different environment... I have never seen the nurses look stressed or overwhelmed and they have plenty of time to do their charting at the nurses station! There are no codes (admittedly, something I don't like) and it's just a much more low-key environment (but I don't think I should put it this way). I do think I can be successful there, but how do I convey this?
Just want to second that inpatient units can be just as chaotic as a hospital floor but at least in my experience we do have a very good supportive team. by the nature of hospice it attracts a very nuturing staff. We have the best cna's in the city , and nurses almost always are willing to help us out. The most on the 'worse of worse' days or pms will be 6 pts (although discharge and admissions could def happen) and 8 to 9 on nights (although 6 to 7 is more the norm)
I do get frustrated that we are taking more and more complex pts whose goal does not seem to be 'hospice' / quality of life at the eol.... but like others mentioned DNR is not a requirement and we can and do occassionaly ship people from our facility to the ICU...but that is rare usually we can get people to a peaceful place and that is really satisfying. Good luck!! I love my job and there are so many avenues withink the organizations you can go to from the ipu.
tgrosz
17 Posts
nice to hear from you again Heron, a wise and
thoughtful voice from the past. thanks for interjecting
your thoughts, i've been out of the loop a few years
and wasn't aware of the changes with IPU, this certainly
would change the atmosphere.