Thinking of career change to hospice - HELP!

Specialties Hospice

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I know there have been similar posts about this, but didn't see what I was looking for. I'm an RN w/ almost 5 yrs experience in med/surg/tele, recently moved to Palliative care, but am burned out by the "hospital" environment. I am new to the unit ( I like it, but it's kinda med-surg), and have just started my learning on end of life care. I was curious about hospice, and chatted w/ the hospice RN tonight who visited one of my patients.

I am curious about what the hospice RN does- how many families in the caseload, typical duties, job satisfaction? Should I shadow/volunteer w/hospice? I am noticing a real satisfaction in caring for my "dying" patients in particular.But I worry it's more paperwork and less human interaction. I LIKE bedside nursing & human interaction. I like the social/spiritual aspect, in addition to the medical side. Can anyone recommend another thread or website? I am wondering if I should explore hospice more....Thanks.

Hi Caroline I have been a Hospice Nurse for 5 years, and this is the very best job I have ever had! I am a home care nurse, which means that I see the pt's at home and in the hospitals. I must see everyone once a week, and then prn for any problems. I currently have 14 pt's. At our hospice we have a on-call nurse that does every night and weekends- I work 5 days a week, 8-10 hrs a depending on what crisis there is that day! Our hospice serves 3 counties in New York- and we have grown alot since I started- I have at least 2 admissions a week- and I find that people are being referred earlier which makes a big difference- I hope that this helps! Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions!! Have a great night :kiss

Lucy

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1) What is a typical day like for a hospice nurse?

2) How many hours are you on call?

3) Is there a difference in the "types" of hospice nurses? For example, some go to the hospital and offer "In-House" services, some go to the pt's homes, and some work at the beautiful and peaceful hospice houses. What kind of place would someone trained in the CVICU (no oncology) be best suited for?

4) Are traveling opportunities available for the Hospice RN?

5) Would any Hospice program accept a PRN RN for 1 day a week (while working another job, not needing benes) to help ease someone into the position down the road?

I imagine every Hospice is a little different.

1) I start my day by organizing what I plan to accomplish. I finish up any paperwork that was left undone. I get errands done (pick up prescriptions--get them filled at the pharmacy). I usually see between 2 and six pt's in a day, depending on my pt load (which is anywhere from 5 to 14-- 6 right now)

2) I am on-call one day a week and one weekend per month. I get $3 per hour on-call, with time and a half over 40 hours.

3) We don't have a live-in facility. All of our nurses see pts in their homes.

4) I travel every day. Just not very far (I'd insert a smiley here, but the last time I tried all of my text was deleted)

5) A lot of places hire PRN.

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Hello all!

I was recently given the opportunity to work with hospice nurses two days in a row, as two of our month long critically ill pts' DR's decided there was nothing more that could be done for the pts and called in hospice.

The hospice RN who came in was so helpful! She wrote a few orders (which I carried out) and spoke with the family, and even took a few minutes to help me (a new nurse in an ICU dealing with my first deaths) feel a little better. She seemed to intuitively pick up on my pain, even as she was dealing with the much more urgent needs of the family, and offered words of support and encouragement.

Over the past weekend, I have been thinking about Hospice nursing as a possible career down the road. (I dont want to give up the awesome ICU job I have now!)

But I have some questions.

1) What is a typical day like for a hospice nurse?

2) How many hours are you on call?

3) Is there a difference in the "types" of hospice nurses? For example, some go to the hospital and offer "In-House" services, some go to the pt's homes, and some work at the beautiful and peaceful hospice houses. What kind of place would someone trained in the CVICU (no oncology) be best suited for?

4) Are traveling opportunities available for the Hospice RN?

5) Would any Hospice program accept a PRN RN for 1 day a week (while working another job, not needing benes) to help ease someone into the position down the road?

Thanks you wonderful people! :)

Caroline,

I am a Hospice nurse in Idaho. I have been in practice off and on for 10 years. I also practice in the patient's home making 4-6 visits a day. Work hours, pay, and on-call responsibilities differ from agency to agency and state to state. I work full-time Monday thru Friday 8-5. I am on call one night a week and every 6th weekend. Sometimes I feel like working part-time, 32 hours a week, would be better considering the intensity of what we do each and every day, but we are not compensated as well as some other specialities so need to work more hours.

I agree with some of the other nurses here that Hospice is a true calling. You need to have a firm spiritual base and be open to just about anything. The work we do definately gives as much as it takes. I can't imagine doing anything else with the rest of my life!

HospiceTess :)

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Hello Caroline!

I live in rural IL and work for a non-profit hospital-owned agency which is joined with home health and a DME. Start looking around in your area and see what is available as the set-up and structure may be a factor for you.

1) What is a typical day like for a hospice nurse? RN's and LPN's see between 3-6 patients a day for regular visits, less with an admission as the paperwork takes forever.

2) How many hours are you on call? RN's are on call a couple of nights a month and one weekend every 2-3 months.

3) Is there a difference in the "types" of hospice nurses? For example, some go to the hospital and offer "In-House" services, some go to the pt's homes, and some work at the beautiful and peaceful hospice houses. There are no hospice houses in our rural area, so the vast majority of our patients are in their own home. Some live with family and some are in LTCF's.

What kind of place would someone trained in the CVICU (no oncology) be best suited for? I don't think your background dictates what you would be best for - I think that comes more from your personality. We are out on our own but have help available by phone. I sometimes see the CNA during a visit. Staff see each other mornings, evenings, but most often at staff meetings.

4) Are traveling opportunities available for the Hospice RN? Can't say - haven't checked into it myself.

5) Would any Hospice program accept a PRN RN for 1 day a week (while working another job, not needing benes) to help ease someone into the position down the road? Yes, and I think it's an excellent idea. Research your choices and be sure you are comfortable with the way things will work for you as a PRN and a full-timer down the road.

Good luck to you!

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I could really use everyone's help. I think I'm burned out on med/surg nursing after almost 5 years and I've been thinking a lot about hospice nursing. Can anyone tell me what your average day is like? What do you love about it? What gets you frustrated about it? I would really appreciate any advice or insight. Thank you!

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TxPeach, I merged your thread with two older ones that had some responses pertinent to your questions. Unfortunately, that means the responses appear previous to YOUR post.

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Wow, JulieBean, my jaw dropped after reading your post. I'm just starting nursing school, and already know I want nothing to do with ICU/CCU/ED and really, hospitals! I know I'll have to do my time, but hospice has an inner appeal to me...it's a pretty damn important time of life and I would love to share that with folks. Thank you for that inspiration :yeah:

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Hello all!

1) What is a typical day like for a hospice nurse?

2) How many hours are you on call?

3) Is there a difference in the "types" of hospice nurses? For example, some go to the hospital and offer "In-House" services, some go to the pt's homes, and some work at the beautiful and peaceful hospice houses. What kind of place would someone trained in the CVICU (no oncology) be best suited for?

4) Are traveling opportunities available for the Hospice RN?

5) Would any Hospice program accept a PRN RN for 1 day a week (while working another job, not needing benes) to help ease someone into the position down the road?

Thanks you wonderful people! :)

Hi Caroline,

Ditto on a lot of the answers you have already received! I usually work directly from my home, so I don't go into the office except to get supplies and for team meetings. Most of the time I spend some time at home in the morning finishing up stuff from the day before and make calls to pt's and families. I so anywhere from 2-6 visits a day, depending on the day.

Our hospice does not make the full time case managers take call, so that part is a breeze. We have a lot of patients on service, so the agency can afford this. I did a lot of on-call with the previous agency that I worked for in another state and got a little burnt out.

We have a hospital/inpatient team, a facility team that goes to long term care facilities, and we have several home teams. We also have an inpatient facility - so there are lots of choices. If you like working at one place all day then inpatient might be nice. The one good thing about that is that the staff there are not alone in their cars all day and they have support from other workers. The facility team has that benefit too. I used to be on that team and liked it a lot because I was able to have other nurses and other staff to talk to about the patients and be able to get ideas from them.

I don't know about travel opportunities either...I tried looking when I wanted to move to another state but all that wa available was hospital work.

We hire lot's of prns that work when they can - I would encourage you to check it out. You would not be a case manager, but you could do prn visits.

Good luck

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The absolute best thing about hospice is MORE human interaction...compared to hospital nursing you will be amazed at the time you have for your patients. Hospice nursing makes me feel like a "real" nurse. In the hospital I frequently felt like a waitress who only has time to breeze in and breeze out.

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:chuckle In LTC I did have residents who would call out "waitress...oh waitress!"

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