Hospice Nurses Find Great Professional and Personal Reward in Their Work

For hospice nurses, it’s a commonly heard question: “Why would you choose to work with terminally ill patients, isn’t it depressing?” VITAS’ more than 4,000 registered nurses and licensed practical nurses/licensed vocational nurses, who help hospice patients each day, offer some interesting insights.

 

National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, observed every year in November, is a celebration of the many reasons that nurses and many other health care professionals give when they are asked that question.

 

Fact is, many health care professionals find it highly rewarding and uplifting to work with patients and families during one of the most important moments of life, the end of life.

 

“It’s a time of life when hospice caregivers can make a meaningful difference for patients and their loved ones, and really help people when they need it most,” said Deborah Pennington, a registered nurse at VITAS Innovative Hospice Care. “In addition to providing care, we also help patients and families experience meaningful events together that families might have thought were not possible due to the illnesses of their loved ones. In this way, our patient care teams help to create lasting, heartfelt memories for families, friends and other loved ones.”

 

VITAS Patient Care Administrator Rosario Salas, R.N., echoed her words: “Hospice work brings us back to the reasons why we chose careers in healthcare: To make a real difference in people’s lives.”

 

AT VITAS, the nation’s leading provider of end-of-life care since the company was established in 1978, nurses work as part of interdisciplinary teams that include physicians, social workers, chaplains, volunteers, and other specially trained members. “Our hospice caregivers share an appreciation of the many rewards inherent in the hospice experience, and we take great pride and find great personal and professional reward in our daily work,” Salas added.

 

Salas said that many hospital-based nurses she meets often ask her about the hospice model, specifically, the workings of the interdisciplinary teams and the patient-directed nature of hospice care. “Many nurses are curious about hospice and often try to imagine what it must be like to work outside the rigid structures of hospital settings,” Salas said. “I always tell them that a better question might be this: ‘Wouldn’t you like to work in an environment where one-to-one, hands-on care is part of a typical day? Wouldn’t you enjoy working in an environment where you need to use all of the diagnostic and assessment skills you’ve acquired throughout your nursing career, and continuously expand your knowledge and skills every day?’”

 

The ability to care for people at the end of life is a privilege, Salas said. “For me, my work at VITAS Innovative Hospice Care has been the most rewarding and fulfilling part of my career. There’s no way to describe the deep feeling of reward that I find in my job. You won’t understand it fully until you’ve experienced it for yourself.”