About Community Nurses and Hospice Care
Community nurses and hospice care nurses and assistants are in fields of medicine that are not for everyone. These healthcare providers work with often under served populations, and they help make sure that these people have the medical care they need. Community nurses also are involved in patient education while hospice care workers help families take care of their loved ones as much as possible.
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Requirements
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Both community nurses and people working in hospice care need to have degrees. Nurses will need at least an LPN, or licensed practical nursing, degree, which takes about 18 months at most nursing schools. Some community nurses will have an RN, or registered nursing, degree, or a BSN, a bachelor of science in nursing. Hospice care also employs people as nursing assistants to work with patients. Nursing assistants attend courses ranging from six weeks to one year.
Role
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When family members and patients decide to live out their lives in their homes rather than the hospital, hospice nurses visit these families on certain days to take care of medication issues, personal hygiene and other areas where the patient needs help. Community health nurses work in clinics for the uninsured or health departments. Often their work requires a great deal of patient education as well as medical care.
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Work Environment
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Hospice care nurses visit the homes of people who are chronically and terminally ill. These nurses work in patients' homes rather than in clinical settings. Hospice nurses often wear street clothes rather than scrubs to make patients feel better. Community nurses typically work in clinic-type settings that are more casual than hospitals or doctor's offices.
Benefits
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Using hospice care is a great way for a family to feel more comfortable through an end-of-life time. Because hospice care allows the family to remain at home, medical care is not the central feature of the last days of someone who is very ill. Community nursing reaches out to populations not served by traditional medical establishments. Community nurses often work with communities, such as the homeless or people living with AIDS, and these nurses learn to help these folks on their own terms, rather than requiring them to try to blend in at a typical office.
Misconceptions
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Community nurses and hospice care workers are not there because they cannot work elsewhere. Instead the people who choose to work in these nursing fields often are giving up a sense of professional community they would get in a medical setting. These workers also make less money than their counterparts in hospitals, ruling out any financial incentive for working in these fields.
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