Skills refresher

[Furies Fire]

Hi everyone,

I have recently been offered a position as a hospice nurse and will be giving them my decision next week. I'm really excited about this prospect as I have always felt a pull towards hospice and have actually had several people suggest I go into the field.

I am however a bit cautious because my background in nursing has been non-traditional to say the least. I've been a nurse for just under 5 years, but I have primarily worked in psychiatric nursing and public health. I believe my backgrounds in these fields will help me to excel at comforting my hospice patients and their families and in providing education on the dying process. I also had a very brief stint in the ER so I am comfortable with inserting IV's, providing pain management, and with basic triage. However, with the bade economy when I graduated I was never able to get a med-surge position and I really haven't had many opportunities to perform more traditional skilled nursing services like suctioning, wound care, etc.

I know many of the needed skills will be covered in training if I accept the position, but I don't want to go into training with less recollection of how to perform a skill than I had when I was a new graduate. I would like to review some of the procedures that are commonly provided by a hospice nurse before I attempt to enter this field.

As hospice nurses what nursing skills do you find yourself performing on a frequent or common basis? What skills would you recommend I review and re-familiarize myself with in preparation for taking this journey?

[TammyG]

We do a lot of PCAs so mediport access, subcutaneous access, PICC line bandage changes and access and flushing. TPN hanging. Lots of foleys. Occasional venipuncture. Lots of wound care particularly pressure ulcers. I would speak to your company and see what kind of skills competency they require.