Hospice Nurses Visits

Hospice Nurses Visits

From the early stages of the hospice admissions process until the final steps of a patient’s end-of-life journey, the skilled and compassionate impact of hospice nurses can be witnessed throughout any hospice organization.

With nurses playing such a vital role in the hospice care team and in many of the day-to-day patient care activities, understanding their role helps form a more complete picture of how hospice provides, caregivers, and family members.

The Different Types of Hospice Nurses
The role of a hospice nurse is also a multivariat one. Having such a robust skill set, nurses can apply their knowledge and talents across a host of varying care specialities within a hospice organization.

Admission Nurse
Admission nurses are some of the first members of a hospice organization with whom patients come into contact. In this position, admission nurses guide patients and families through the hospice assessment and admissions processes and play a pivotal role in the educational process for patients, families, and alike.

When terminally-ill individuals are considering hospice care, an admissions nurse will work closely with that patient’s physician to understand the patient’s needs and determine whether or not that patient is eligible for hospice care.

If that patient is eligible to receive hospice care, the admissions nurse provides compassionate education concerning the holistic hospice care philosophy, as well as the nature of the care they can expect to receive in regard to their specific terminal illness.

Admissions nurses also work closely with the patient’s care team in formulating a care plan for the patient. With the admission nurse being one of the first medical professionals from that hospice organization that has met with that patient, their insight is invaluable.

Following a patient’s admission, admissions nurses may also play a role in the order of any specialty care equipment that a patient might require as well as all pain relief and other symptom-controlling medications.

Case Managers
The role of a case manager is one of the most direct, hands-on nursing roles in a hospice organization.

Hospice case managers oversee the direction and coordination of a patient’s care — and the care provided for their caregivers and family — throughout their time in hospice.

Working closely with the rest of the hospice care team, case managers decide how care resources are allocated and formulate the plan of care for each patient.

They also determine what level and what types of counseling, education, and care the patient’s family caregiver and family members will need before, during, and after the patient’s death.

Visit Nurses
Visit nurses supplement the care provided by a patient’s hospice case manager.

In part, their work consists of following up on routine care duties that are laid out in the patient plan of care, such as providing periodic, administering medications, and ensuring proper documentation of all provided care.

Triage Nurses
When patients or caregivers experience an at-home emergency or need to get receive advisement on care, triage nurses are on call and at the ready.

From the moment an emergency call comes in from a caregiver or family member, triage nurses begin assessing the situation, gain an understanding the patient’s specific care needs, and begin advising care.

Triage nurses also inform the hospice case manager or visiting nurse of the situation, as well as the patient’s physician, and determine whether or not an immediate visit is required.

Their remote work setting, coupled with the high-stress nature of the emergency care calls they receive, demands that triage nurses be critical thinkers who can take control of a situation, understand and prioritize care needs, and execute a plan quickly.

Hospital Liaisons
Hospitals, seeking to provide their patients with the best care possible, regularly join forces with local hospice organizations as an end-of-life care partner.

Through these partnerships, when a hospital diagnoses a patient with a life-limiting illness, they are able to refer them to a partnering hospice organization.

Hospital liaisons are key to both of these relationships — at the hospital and patient level — working smoothly. These specially-trained nurses build relationships with hospitals, private care organizations, and other healthcare professionals to ensure they are aware that a local end-of-life care organization is available for any patients they may serve.

In addition, hospital liaisons also work closely with the patients and their families to help guide them through the process of enrolling in hospice care and ensuring the end-of-life patient’s wishes are well-established and communicated to all relevant parties.