Starting in Hospice/Home Care?

[CJisRNBSN]

I am recently graduated as an RN BSN, and applying for work. My interests going into nursing has always been hospice care or home care. I'm concerned that going straight into hospice, without first working in Med-Surg, might hinder me in the future if I want to eventually work in a hospital. Can someone give me pointers or advice as to how to go about this?

[josie9toes, BSN]

I went straight into home health in a city FLOODED with nurses. It looks to me like there are always med-surg positions available to those without prior hospital experience. That's how you get a foot in the door of a hospital.

[CharleeFoxtrot, BSN, RN]

I am recently graduated as an RN BSN, and applying for work. My interests going into nursing has always been hospice care or home care. I'm concerned that going straight into hospice, without first working in Med-Surg, might hinder me in the future if I want to eventually work in a hospital. Can someone give me pointers or advice as to how to go about this?

My two cents. IME, Hospice/home care requires a nurse to have skills that college doesn't teach you. It requires excellent assessment skills, having bedside skills/tasks like wound care and foley placement and the ability to work with minimal supervision. Not to mention great time management skills, and perhaps most importantly a deep well of experience to fall back on in dealing with not only the patient but the families as well in times of stress and crisis.

To jump straight into that without working in an inpatient facility to shine up those skills might not be the best chance for being successful.

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

Something you'll need this first year after school is a place to be onboarded and learn to practice safely. That takes nurses around you. Hospice and home health (just like school nursing) are jobs that require autonomy, developed critical thinking skills, and a base of knowledge about what is normal, and conversely, what is not normal. Your LVN practice may have helped you establish some of this already. There are people who will tell you to go right into what you want to do. I think you need a solid year of general practice before taking on hospice. Best of luck to you!