A Hospice Nurse's Frustration
Hi Nurse G,I think hospice care and the role nurses play has changed considerably and wonder if that is why you are not feeling the fulfillment you once did. Over...
Something to Think About: a blog on end of life
Hospice
I Work With Dying People
I wrote this poem one day after seeing two particular patients. One was a woman in her 40's who was working through the anger of not being able to see...
Linda's story, an RN Supervisor from AR
Linda, an RN living in Arkansas, is sharing her story with us. I remember Michael so clearly because of his last wish and how the hospice team helped to make...
The Emperor's New Clothes
Someone asked me to write about “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” At first I thought it was a prank, and maybe it was, but the question made me wonder how the...
Nancy's Story, Harry and Lila
I had the pleasure of spending three days with a man and his wife. We’ll call the man Harry and his wife Lila. The days were spent mainly feeding Harry,...
Kim and Joan's Story
The following story had been written by one of our Excela Health Hospice nurses, Kim Kistler. I had read it about 2 years ago and always remembered it as such...
Loretta, a longtime Hospice nurse, now in Florida
I had a hospice patient who was a retired builder and lived in the country. Two days after I began taking care of him I also began taking care of...
What do you do when the Hospice patient improves?
Every so often a person comes onto the Hospice program and their condition improves. When a person’s condition stabilizes Hospice takes them off the program until they begin to decline...
Family Contact
QUESTION: Working in Hospice, I always had a terrible time with ---Do I stay in contact with the family after visitation or not? ANSWER: I think staying in contact with...
What is Terminal Restlessness?
Terminal restlessness is a medical term for the restlessness and agitation that often begins one to three weeks before death from disease. The restlessness shows itself by random body movements,...
Palliative Sedation
The question, "Will you discuss palliative sedation?" has come up several times so I am putting my response in this section rather than the Comments. Palliative Sedation is a term...