End-of-Life Care: Registered Nurses Provide Hospice Help
By AJ Fanter
Employed outside of hospitals, registered nurses who provide end-of-life care are known as hospice or palliative-care nurses. While they perform all of the traditional duties that are required of other nurses, they have special challenges in their careers: all of their patients are terminally ill.
For example, while all other registered nurses administer medications and track patients' symptoms in order to aid recovery, hospice and palliative care nurses do so in order to reduce their patients' suffering, in an effort to make their final days and hours as comfortable as possible.
Registered Nurse as Hospice Provider
Nursing is a demanding career, and those who opt to become hospice nurses face unique working conditions. Hospice care is grounded in the belief that terminally ill patients should have the right to spend their final days in the comfort of their homes, surrounded by family and friends. Registered nurses in this field generally spend time with patients in their homes, providing medical care as well as emotional support.
From Registered Nurse to Hospice Nurse
To become a certified hospice nurse, you need to be a registered nurse with at least two years of experience working in a hospice nursing practice. In addition, you must pass a special exam given by the National Board for the Certification of Hospice Nurses.
Palliative-care nursing can be a challenge, but if you have strength and compassion to share with patients and their families, you can make a difference in hundreds of lives. Explore this rewarding career and become one of the most important people in your patients' lives.
Source
About the Author
AJ Fanter is a freelance writer based in Reno, Nevada.
