Hospice nursing might appear to be about just pain management and symptom treatment, but three South Florida nurses who have more than 50 years’ combined experience in hospice nursing say it is much more.
“Hospice nurses use all of their skills, including their clinical, critical-thinking, communication, interpersonal and teaching skills,” says Nancy Auster, R.N., of VITAS Innovative Hospice Care® of Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties. She has been a VITAS hospice nurse for 20 years.
Hospice nurses must determine the cause of a patient’s symptoms in order to treat those symptoms, says Nancy. If a cancer patient has a fever, for example, the nurse must employ his or her clinical and critical-thinking skills to determine if it’s from tumor growth, dehydration, infection or some other condition.
“A hospice patient may not be seeing a physician every day, so the nurse acts as the physician’s eyes and ears,” explains Nancy. “The way the nurse presents information strongly directs the doctor’s thinking.”
It’s important for hospice nurses to be good communicators, says Nancy, so they can ask the right questions, deliver information accurately yet sensitively and gain the trust of their patients and their patients’ caregivers.
Hospice nursing is about educating
Pat Todaro, R.N., an admissions nurse for VITAS in Broward County who has been with the company for more than 20 years, says her favorite part of the job is educating patients and families about hospice. She finds that many people don’t realize it’s an option in end-of-life care.
“It’s all about choices,” says Pat. “I try to help patients and families understand their options. I try to arm them with knowledge so they can make informed decisions.
“People go into nursing to comfort people,” continues Pat. “But often, nurses have to do things that aren’t comforting or that produce even more pain. Hospice nurses are lucky. We are able to help people feel comfortable and peaceful at the end of life, and we are able to provide not only the necessary comfort and pain management but also psychosocial and spiritual support to our patients and their families.”
Hospice is its own reward
“I treasure being able to share a patient’s last days and deliver the special care that is unique to hospice,” adds Nancy. “When people ask me about my work, I always say that life is as much about helping people leave this world as it is about bringing them in. I see my work as helping patients move to that next step of life.”
