Nurses Week: Behind the Scenes With Crossroads Nurses
It takes a very special person to become a hospice nurse. At Crossroads Hospice & Palliative Care, we are very lucky to have some of the most dedicated and compassionate people in healthcare working to serve our patients. For Nurses Week, we sat down with a few of them to ask some of the most frequently asked questions about hospice nursing.
Why did you become a hospice nurse?
“Hospice is very low tech, but very high touch, and that’s the part of nursing that I love.”
Whether it was a personal experience with hospice for a loved one or seeing another hospice nurse in action, our nurses tell us that hospice ultimately became a calling for them. Hospice nurses love the personal interaction with families in their homes and being able to provide the right level of care to keep patients comfortable.
What is a typical day like for a hospice nurse?
“You never quite know what the day is going to look like.”
A typical day in the life of a hospice nurse is never typical. It all starts with a plan for routine visits and interdisciplinary group meetings where each patient’s care team meets face to face to discuss their care. However, when a patient has new or worsening symptoms, the hospice nurse will make a point of visiting them to ensure those symptoms are brought under control.
What is the best thing about hospice nursing?
“The thing I love about hospice nursing is the way that you get to touch lives.”
Hospice nurses meet patients and families at one of most difficult periods of their lives. Despite the sad circumstances, hospice nurses find a tremendous amount of satisfaction in being able to assist patients and their families in their final days. Our nurses tell us their time with dying patients helps them find value in the small moments of daily life and appreciate every day they have.
What is the hardest part of hospice nursing?
“It’s hard when someone is angry or when they’re sad, and there are no words to help them.”
One of the most difficult things in hospice is knowing that every patient will pass away. Despite that, hospice nurses are committed to making those final days as comfortable and positive as they possibly can. They work to quickly manage pain and other symptoms so patients can enjoy every moment they have left with their families.
Can you tell us about a particularly memorable patient?
“He has the best stories, and he’s one of my favorites right now.”
From young to old, sweethearts and the more cantankerous, hospice nurses carry a piece of all their patients with them. The most memorable hospice patients tend to be the ones who took our nurses on an emotional journey. That can happen in a moment over a shared joke or over several months as a patient’s pain is brought under control, giving them the peace they need to be able to come to terms with their life and their death and time to reconnect with family.
What was your hardest goodbye as a hospice nurse?
“We had a nine-year-old little boy….one day, his mother called me and told me he had just told her he was going to die and said goodbye to her.”
At Crossroads, we care for all ages of patients from young children to centenarians. While it can be hard to say goodbye to any patient, it’s the youngest patients who have been the hardest goodbyes for our nurses. Despite that, hospice nurses embrace the privilege of being able to give children the same whole person care we give to older adults. Families also appreciate being able to keep their child at home with them in their final days with the compassionate support of their hospice team.
Why did you join the Crossroads nursing team?
“I saw what Crossroads did at the nursing homes that I worked in.”
At Crossroads, we believe that no one should die alone and no one should die in pain. Our commitment to those values means our nurses are making more visits and spending more time with patients than the national average. For hospice nurses like Jennifer Bruce, it is a shared belief in those core values that has brought them to us.
During Nurses Week and every week, we are thankful for the hardworking nurses providing care and compassion to our patients. To learn more about Crossroads, please call 1-888-564-3405.
Recommended Reading:
Crossroads Hospice stands with #Nurses Unite
What is the One Thing You Wish People Knew About Hospice?
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