What is it like being a Hospice Nurse?
Hospice care, also called end of life care, can be a difficult, but highly rewarding nursing career. While you will be dealing with death on a regular basis, you will also be providing the care and comfort that can truly make a difference for those vulnerable people who are at the end of their lives.
While a patient in hospice would still have a doctor, the main amount of care is provided by a hospice nurse. If you are interested in becoming a hospice nurse to help people dealing with their remaining time, here's what you need to know.
Duties and Conditions
As a hospice nurse, you may be employed at a facility or provide home visits for people who wish to remain at home. Your main duties would be to make the person comfortable and provide a calming presence, but more specific duties include providing medication, delivering meals, cleaning the patient, listening to the patient, providing reassuring words, and answering the patient's and the family's questions about the process.
You may have to discuss information that can be fairly distressing to the patient's family, and you may have to deal with patients who are not very happy at the end of their lives. Many patients who enter hospice have made peace with their decision, but you will find some who have regrets they can't shake or who are simply grieving for their own lives. All of these are valid feelings and must be treated with respect.
Skills and Values
Because you would be dealing with a diverse population that can include all religions, races, and ages -- remember that terminal illness can affect younger people as well -- you must be able to set aside any conflicting values or thoughts you have. It's good to be able to provide an alternative viewpoint, but you can't seem combative, and you certainly can't push your views on the patients.
You must be compassionate, understanding, and calm. You should have the ability to be patient with dissatisfied or unhappy patients, as well as situations that can change from day to day. A normally calm and accepting patient can have his or her moments of doubt, and you need to be there for that person. Likewise, an unhappy patient can have better days, and you should be able to modify how you react so that you allow the patients to process their emotions about their situation.
On the practical side, you do need to have excellent nursing skills. You should also be prompt, responsible, and able to help patients with various requests (that are within your ability as a nurse). You definitely need good observation skills and good people skills because you are likely to be the one to spot changes in the patient's conditions.
If you work as a specialty hospice nurse, such as a triage nurse who deals with patients and families calling from home, you have to have excellent communication skills. You can't use physical clues to see how the patient is really doing, so you have to know what questions to ask to get a full picture of what's happening.
Education and Training
If you want to work as a hospice nurse, you should obtain a bachelor's of science in nursing, or BSN. While you can work as a hospice nurse with an associate's degree, you'll have a more detailed background with the longer bachelor's program. You'll also need to take the NCLEX-RN licensing exam as well as gaining any state-specific licenses. It also would be wise to seek out courses on counseling as part of your nursing studies.
Do you think you have what it takes to become a hospice nurse? Whether you're just starting your nursing journey or ready to take the next step, ECPI University could help you reach your goals with the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree Program. If you're ready to take the next step, contact an admissions advisor today to discuss your future.
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