The "older" Hopsice Nurse

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:nurse:I am a 52 year old RN who left Hospice 3 years ago because I was tired of the call/weekend/holiday issues. I miss the work a lot,and tried to fill that void with being involved on the volunteer level.I switched to school nursing, which of course has INCREDIBLE hours , very good hourly pay and no holidays/weekends/call etc. It also has very minimal sense of personal reward. I took the job figuring it would be a job I could do into retirement. I have TRIED to make the job better, but I still miss hospice nursing. I know that I may not be able to do (home) Hospice nursing till I retire, but I figure I could still probably have several great years left. I am in pretty good health, with the exception of some hip bursitis and rotator cuff problems. I have been offered a position with minimal call/weekend requirements . As I remember, most of the Hospice nurses I worked with were in their 30's or 40's. I would love input from others in my age range,about the challenges/joys/tips that are different with our age group. Thank you .

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I am 55 years old, went back to Home Hospice Nursing after 2 years as a Nurse Educator. I missed it so much and the rewards far outway any age related issues. I feel it is a calling like none other for me and will do it until I retire, which my husband says will be at least 67 years old :)

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Seeing as how I've met nursing assistants and nurses working in LTC in their 70s, I see no reason why you can't do hospice in your 50s, as long as you feel up to the job.

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Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.

in my mid 50s and still going strong. It is harder to get up and down from the floor...and my hip creaks if I have to go up too many stairs...

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Specializes in LTC, Psych, Hospice.

tewdles--I'm 53 and in the field. I'm also hoping to be accepted into a BSN program this fall. I guess I'll show up for work one day and they'll tell me they have an order to admit me!

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tewdles--I'm 53 and in the field. I'm also hoping to be accepted into a BSN program this fall. I guess I'll show up for work one day and they'll tell me they have an order to admit me!

That's one way to get some rest! :p

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I am 55 years old, went back to Home Hospice Nursing after 2 years as a Nurse Educator. I missed it so much and the rewards far outway any age related issues. I feel it is a calling like none other for me and will do it until I retire, which my husband says will be at least 67 years old :)

I agree with you that it is like no other work. I guess my main concern is the call requirment. Getting out of bed at 2 AM to do a visit of ( a minmim of) an hour away. It seems more difficult as we age. The call requiremnet is minimal thlugh.Thank you for your input

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Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.

So true lakewin, the middle of the night calls are much more difficult to recover from as we age...at least in my experience.

I worked for an agency that required as much as 150 hr/mo of on call for the case managers. It was brutal some weeks.

I now work for a company which has a dedicated on call and triage staff...it is much more sane!

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OK, let's get this straight - over 50 is not "older". Over 70 is "older'. Don't take my denial away from me! We all know it can be an effective coping mechanism....

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Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.

Oh gosh I do not think that 50's is older...but my knees and hips do! If I could go back and relive my youth I might reconsider playing basketball...

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Specializes in L&D, Hospice.

oh how i understand the diverse bone problems - the mind is still young the body is a different story...

i am also past the 50 mark and i keep wondering why in creation we nurses cannot stick together and work out a healthy for the health care worker environment???

where else but in health care are the unhealthy demands made on staff to work with little sleep and overly long shifts while making "life and death" decisions? i had a similar discussion with one of our doctors once and her answer for the physician side was: while going through med school it weeds out the weak, after that you don't want to admit you cannot do this, so you push on....

no pilot would be allowed to fly the hours doctors and nurses work

for me: i would love to work part time, do job sharing just work less in a weeks time - does not seem possible; but i do not want to give up my hospice work! now that is 4 AM again, i need some sleep ;)

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I too am a 50 yo hospice case manager. Having done several disciplines prior to arriving at hospice, i truly felt i found my calling within nursing. The philosophy of care and the people i have met through hospice has been very rewarding. the problem lies in the increasing time constraints and work load to provide adequate care.Though policies and regulations are meant to provide standards of safe care, i often think that they produce unwanted side-effects. Nurse burnout, distraction from personal care of an individual and family. Typical workloads of full time hospice rns run from 16-20. There is hardly enough time in the day to provide good care, let alone adequate care, then have a life outside of one's work life.Unfortunately, that kind of balance is not encouraged, though i think we all know the value of it.

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