Topics About 'Hospice'.

I have been an RN working in various hospitals, med surg and med tel since 2006. As a last hurrah, I recently started working in a step down ICU. I love learning new things but HATE how task oriented it is and how NOT patient oriented it is. I am ...

It is not unusual for hospice and palliative services to be confused with one another. When a patient and their family are in the situation of deciding between the two, they are already likely in a place of stress and anxiety and it’s important to pr...

When first admitting a patient and their family into the hospice care experience, it is important to know that they are fearful of the unknown. Some view it as a death sentence and want to know what to expect. Common questions are, "How long do I hav...

Dear Nurse Beth, What to charge next-door neighbor/friend for private duty Hospice nursing (3-4 days/1-2 hours per week)as an RN in Tn. She will only require PRN pain meds, colostomy care, & rectal packing/evaluations. Thanks!

I began my practice as a hospice RN in 1996. At that time the facility was seated in a pocket of the Midwest where "hospice" was not often spoken. I worked for a small hospice that had a census of eight (yes, you read that right-more staff than patie...

I became part of the largest home hospice in my area four years ago just after Christmas. I work at night from home and on my own. In addition to calls and visits for various issues that arise, I am also in attendance for any deaths. I do an average ...

The call came in while at work. My mom's brother Steve had been rushed to a hospital. He was dying. I decided to go on the weekend when I was off, as my partner at work was out sick. I flew into Canada and made my way to the hospital. My aunt, a reti...

Along the way, I've met many nursing students and new grads who have a "hospice heart.” They share their stories of witnessing a loved one die at home, having relevant experiences during this event and now feel that hospice is their calling as a nurs...

When moving from acute, inpatient nursing to home hospice, nurses have to reshape how they think about morphine. In acute care, there is an emphasis on minimizing narcotics, fear of creating addiction and adverse outcomes for patients after their hos...

"To Suction or Not To Suction, End-of-Life & Hospice Patients" is an article I recently published in allnurses.com and the responses were very conflicting. As of today Sept. 13, 2018, there are over 16,000 views of the article and 3 pages of clin...

I need a little help here. Have spent years as an ED nurse and now find myself caring for my mother with end-stage COPD. She was placed on hospice 2 weeks ago and we have been told to push the oral morphine, .35 ml's q 1 hr. Because of distance I'm u...

For those of you who are familiar with working with hospice patients and their families, have any of you experienced difficulties or challenges with them accepting hospice cares? There is one example that I can think of is a lady who has been a ...

George stepped out of the hospital room and shut the door softly behind him. As his Faith Community Nurse, I had just stopped by to check in and asked him if it might be a good time to talk. "She just dropped off to sleep after the pain medicine," he...

About 4 years ago, I started as a part time nurse in a LTC/Rehab facility. Since then, I’ve moved on to full time nurse, interim nurse manager and now, full time manager. Over the past 4 years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with one lady that I’v...

Backstory When the Western counter-culture of the 1960s sought to radically protest dominant societal paradigms on so many fronts, the over-medicalization of the birthing process was included. Home births attended by "direct-entry" or "lay" midwi...

"If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check." James 3:2 I reach down to touch Anne's* hand, my own fingers still chilled by the outside morning air. Her eyelids flutter, letting me know she ...

Very curious about something. I'm new to inpatient hospice and have only had 4 deaths so far. Two of the patients had a single tear. One of those patients, the niece saw her previously unresponsive aunt open her eyes wide focusing on something in fro...

Hi all, hope everyone is taking care out there. I am a hospice nurse, so normally have a mix of home patients, SNFs, ALFs. My county has a little under 1,000 positive cases; we are in our surge, not yet peaked. We hadn't had any confirmed positive ca...

Family members of patients in the intensive care unit are an intricate piece in the end of life decision making process. However, families are not always as informed or involved as they would like to be. There are a multitude of articles relating fam...

I graduated from nursing school, with a BSN, 2 years ago this May. I say nursing school was my mid-life crisis because I graduated when I was 42. I started my job, which has been quite fulfilling and have learned so much. I work on a floor that is an...

There has been a lot of talk about the amazing, dedicating, and hard-working ER and ICU nursing teams during the COVID-19 health crisis in the United States. Through the media, we are hearing the stories of the ER and ICU nurses working long, sometim...

It is always challenging to care for hospice patients. In some cases, they have suffered through a long debilitating illness, and we want their last days to be ones of peace and comfort. It is especially difficult for their family members to witness,...

I’m a hospice nurse. At least, I was a hospice nurse until about a year ago, at which point I finally decided to choose life over death. Back then my mornings consisted of pounding the New York City pavement. I’d rush to catch the express train at th...

I've been an ICU RN for 15yrs, so I have dealt with End of Life Care plenty. I was always taught to either oral suction or deep suction with a suction catheter if your patient sounds like he or she needs suctioning. But of recent, I have run into som...

Remember when you first started nursing school and didn't know what med/surg or gtts meant? I sure do, but soon nursing language became second nature. Now I can't even jot a quick sticky note to my partner without automatically writing, "see you p th...