Hospice Nurse

Join Novant Health as a Hospice Nurse and provide compassionate, patient-centered care to patients and families during life's most important moments. In this rewarding role, you'll deliver skilled nursing care in the home setting while helping patients achieve comfort, dignity, and the highest possible quality of life through coordinated hospice services.

• Meaningful, relationship-based care that allows you to make a lasting impact on patients and families
• Autonomous field-based practice with the support of an experienced interdisciplinary hospice team
• Collaboration with physicians, social workers, chaplains, hospice aides, and other care team members
• Opportunity to provide holistic care focused on comfort, symptom management, and quality of life
• Professional growth and development opportunities within Novant Health
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision benefits
• Retirement savings plan with employer contributions
• Generous paid time off and wellness resources

• Education: 4 Year / Bachelors Degree, preferred. Graduate of an accredited school of nursing required; BSN preferred.
• Experience:
  • Two years direct patient care in medical surgical nursing, required.
  • Previous home care or hospice experience, preferred.
• Licensure/Certification: Current RN licensure in appropriate state, required.
• Additional Skills (required):  
• Ability to provide direct patient care, demonstrate excellent nursing skills
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, problem solving skills, and basic math skills.
• Understands hospice philosophy and issues of death/dying and demonstrates competency in pain and symptom management with EOL care.
• Ability to interpret information to identify each patient’s requirements for care relative to his/her age specific needs.
• Ability to prioritize, organize and handle varying and unpredictable situation such as emergencies or crisis situations.
• Must be flexible, versatile, adaptable to change, with good critical thinking, problem solving and diplomacy skills.
• Knowledge of procedures and nursing standards of practice, both general and specific to the specialties of medical- surgical nursing.
• Ability to interact effectively with diverse individuals at all levels of authority, in teams and on committees. 
• Actively identifies new areas for learning; regularly creating and taking advantage of learning opportunities; using newly gained knowledge and skill on the job and learning through their application.
• Must have computer experience and have reliable transportation to and from all work related assignments and activities.
• Must be flexible to travel as needed between different locations, as assigned, in all weather conditions and on roads in varying degrees of repair.
• Must be available for after hours call on rotational basis.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, night driving, and ability to adjust and focus.

• Provide skilled nursing care in accordance with physician orders and individualized hospice care plans
• Assess and manage patients' physical, emotional, psychosocial, and end-of-life care needs
• Monitor symptoms and implement interventions to promote comfort and quality of life
• Educate patients, families, and caregivers on disease progression, symptom management, medications, and available resources
• Coordinate care with physicians, social workers, hospice aides, chaplains, and other interdisciplinary team members
• Advocate for patients and families while supporting goals of care and advance care planning
• Maintain accurate clinical documentation and ensure compliance with hospice regulations and standards
• Participate in care planning and case conferences to ensure coordinated, patient-centered care

Work Environment

• Primarily field-based role providing hospice services in patients' homes throughout the service area
• Independent practice supported by a collaborative interdisciplinary hospice team
• Frequent local travel throughout the community
• Opportunity to build meaningful relationships with patients and families over the course of their hospice journey
• On-call participation may be required based on patient and business needs