Which Hospice?

[Elle23]

I am getting closer to stepping out and pursuing hospice nursing.

I do have a bit of a dilema. I live in a large metro area, and there are a bazillion different hospices here.

How do I even begin to wade through them and find the right one?

I guess I can rule out those which have no positions open, but most of the ones I have looked at do have positions available.

Do I just send out multiple resumes and see what happens, or are there special things I can look for at a glance, that would exclude a hospice from being one I want to work for?

[ShesanRN]

I feel very blessed to have "fallen into" the hospice I have, and there are but a few in my area. Putting myself in your shoes, I would learn as much as I could about each hospice that has an open position, via their own website and maybe employer reviews on sites like indeed.com, etc. Also, start asking around informally - it's amazing who has what experience with what companies and their opinions...

I'm thinking, too, that the rest of the learning process comes after you've applied and have been asked to interview. The location of the office, friendliness and professionalism of the office staff, the way you "click" or not with all those you come in contact with up through the interview process.

Important things to know: what's their nurse/patient ratio in case managing? (How many patients does each nurse take care of?) How does after-hours/on-call work? Also important: how does the company see itself fitting in to the community hospice picture - what do they hope to offer that no other one can - what's their "edge"? (And how does that fit with your goals/philosophy of nursing?) How do they compensate - salary? hourly? bonuses for admissions? mileage/company vehicle? Benefits, of course - insurance, 401k - all having potential to be secondary if the hospice isn't a good fit for you overall, but important to consider as part of the big picture.

Good luck! As we've talked about in other threads, some hospices are competing by offering services far and above what all the other area hospices offer. I would be wary of these because the government may find them guilty of enticement. Most of the hospices you would interview with should be roughly comparable in what they offer, imho.

[caliotter3]

I always approach job hunting with agencies one at a time. That precludes having to choose between two or more job offers at once. If you send out multiple resumes, I am certain you will get multiple replies/offers, just like that. One criteria I use is office distance from my home. You might want to incorporate that info in your search. And I definitely try to get a feel for employers from the reviews on job sites like indeed dot com and glassdoor dot com.