BusinessHABWhat hospice workers make: Hospice workers work in government agencies, hospitals, schools, and private practices to help people in need.
They can also work to improve overall social conditions in a community.
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1. Hospice workers
2. Get the business Overview
Hospice workers provide support for terminally ill patients in the final stages of their illness.
Hospice care is a benefit under Medicare Part A hospital insurance and eligible persons can receive medical and support services for their terminal illnesses.
Care is primarily provided in the patients’ homes.
But may also be provided in nursing homes and hospitals.
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With the intent to make patients as comfortable and pain-free as medically possible during the final days of their lives.
A team of specially trained professionals and volunteers provides hospice care.
The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization reported that in 2014.
An estimated 1.6 to 1.7 million patients received hospice services.
What hospice workers make
3. Get the Hospice workers Description
Hospice workers, also known as palliative medicine workers, are typically licensed nurses who are trained to work with people suffering terminal illness or who need major assistance while living in their home. Most hospice workers visit patients in their homes and stay with them for the majority of the day. Others work in nursing homes or hospital departments dedicated specifically for those in need of hospice care. Hospice workers most often work with the elderly or patients who have a terminal illness and need to be comfortable and taken care of in their last days. Some work under the supervision of a doctor to understand specific care recommended for patients by their doctor.
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4. Have the Education and Training Requirements
To become a hospice worker, a student will go to school for a Bachelor’s degree in nursing. To become a nurse, graduates are also required to take a state administered test to become licensed under the state board of nursing. From there, nurses who want to work in hospice care will often get a Master’s degree in Hospice or Pallative Nursing.
5. What hospice workers make
Hospice workers take a variety of medical courses including geriatrics, acute care, and medical and biological ethics. Hospice workers will have to go through the same training as a registered nurse, which typically involves working in a hospital under the supervision of a head nurse before becoming qualified to obtain a certification. Hospice workers will usually train in the hospice department of a nursing home or other residential care facility, and once they qualify to take the state board, can work independently and wherever they choose.
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6. Be sure you have the personality of a good social worker.
Social work can be a very demanding job. You are constantly interacting with people in need, and often despite your best efforts, you are unable to help them due to social factors or your clients’ own resistance.
Those who succeed as social workers tend to share common personality traits:
- Empathy – You must be caring and understanding of those who come to you for help.
- Patience – You must work through problems at your clients’ own speed.
- Dependability – You must be there for your clients when they need you if you are going to earn their trust.
- Organization – Because you will often be dealing with a heavy case load, the ability to prioritize and manage multiple projects efficiently is key.
- Perceptiveness – You will be dealing with topics that are difficult to talk about like abuse. More than just being a good listener, you need to be able to read between the lines to get at what your clients’ want to tell you, but are often afraid to say.
- Objectivity – Becoming too emotionally involved can both drain you and make you less effective. Even while being empathetic, you must maintain the emotional distance necessary to be effective.
- Persistence – Continually overcoming setbacks is the nature of the job. Perseverance is vital.
- Flexibility – Social work is not always a 9-5 job. The best case workers have the flexibility to help their clients when they need them most.
- Resilience – You will see the worst in humanity and face heart-rending problems every day. You must be resilient in order to last in the job. This means knowing how to take care of yourself and recharge you batteries when not working.
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7. Realize that you cannot help all your clients.
People go into social work hoping to change the world and improve lives, but things rarely go as smoothly as that. You will have clients who have been mandated to see you and those who do not want to be there. You will have clients who miss more appointments than they attend. You will have clients who do not want to change. You will have mountains of paperwork that take up more of your time than your clients. Being a social worker means dealing with frustration, pushing disappointment aside, and being able to celebrate small successes.
8. Talk with your colleagues
Don’t be afraid to tell them about your disappointments and frustrations; they no doubt have them too. Knowing you are not alone can help you deal with frustration.
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What hospice workers make
9. Do not blame your clients
They might miss meetings. They might not do as you ask. They might even lie to you. Blaming them will not help you, or them. They are dealing with huge problems. Remind yourself of that every day. It is the problems to blame, not the clients.
10. Focus on problems you can control
Of all the problems you face, some you have total control over solving (e.g. when you do your paperwork or how your write up your reports), some you have limited control over (e.g. your schedule), some will be totally out of your control (i.e. whether a client shows up), and some will be so confusing you can’t even figure out what the problem is (e.g. office politics; managerial incompetence). The key is to focus on the things you can control or influence, and to recognize you cannot control the rest and let it go.
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What hospice workers make
11. Get experience in your chosen area as soon as possible.
There is no better way to see if social work is right for you than to actually do social work. You should get an internship or begin volunteering before or shortly after you start the education required to be a social worker.
12. Get support.
Social work is a demanding job, and to excel you’ll need professional and social support. This support will both keep you sane and help to progress your career.
- Join professional organizations such as the British Association of Social Workers or the National Association of Social Workers in the U.S. in order to take advantage of conferences, workshops, and mentoring.
- Develop helping relationships with peer groups, spouses, or friends. Interpersonal relationships are key to helping social workers deal with their own distress.
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What hospice workers make
13. Take care of yourself.
If you are interested in social work, you are probably an empathetic person, which means that many of your clients’ problems will impact you emotionally. Their disappointments and failures can all too easily feel like your own failures. It is important to make time for yourself – reading, laughing, being with your family – whatever you need to recharge so that you can face your clients’ problems anew. Some clinically tested strategies of self-care include:
14. Self-Evaluation
The ability to effectively monitor one’s own condition has been cited at the number one trait of effective therapists. This means both using introspection and being attentive to interpersonal feedback, such as a family member or colleague noting that you look tired or are working longer hours.
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15. Creating a Pleasant Work Environment
(aka stimulus control) – Changing one’s environment is a proven way to impact one’s mood. There are a variety of steps one can take: get a comfortable chair; play calming music while writing up reports; put plants in your office; take time to talk to colleagues; don’t eat at your desk; etc.
What hospice workers make
16. Relaxation, Exercise, and Diversion
(aka counter conditioning) – These are activities that replenish you physically and psychologically, and they are vital to success as a social worker. Typical activities include: reading or watching TV; working out; hobbies; vacations; meditation; worship; volunteer work; and keeping a diary.
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17. Seek out personal therapy.
The psychological perils of social work are many: compassion fatigue, burnout, and unchecked counter transference (taking up your clients’ pain and trauma as your own) among them. Spending time with a therapist has been shown to help mitigate these problems, resulting in both an improved personal life and better professional development for social workers.
What hospice workers make
18. Set boundaries.
When facing people who are dealing with huge problems like abuse or addiction, there is an understandable temptation to pour more and more of your time into helping them. However, to avoid burning out and to maintain one’s own mental health, a social worker must learn to set boundaries both on the time they devote to each case and on the milestones they hope to achieve.
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19. Create a realistic care plan
Don’t try and fix a client’s problems overnight. If you create a reasonable care plan with small intermediate goals, you will have a road map to stick to and be less likely to pour time into seeking an immediate solution.
20. Be wary of devoting extra time to particular clients –
While some clients do require more work, treating one client differently than others is often a sign that your boundaries – both in terms of time and your emotional relationship with the client – are overextended.
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21. Limit client communication
Always use your organization’s process for communicating with clients. Allowing a client to contact you directly leaves you out of control of your work schedule and, if you are unable to respond when needed, may create a loss of trust.
22. Discuss your workload with your supervisor –
Speaking regularly with your supervisor about your workload and particularly difficult cases can help manage your case load and set boundaries. Know that working extra will not help your organization, it will only set unrealistic expectations for your fellow social workers.
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23. Learn from assessments.
As a social worker, you should have your own work assessed on a regular basis. Instead of dreading these assessments, use them as a tool to improve the services you offer.
24. Clarify vague terms –
If your manager offers vague advice with no clear indication of how to enact it (e.g. use your time more efficiently), ask him or her to clarify or provide a series of clear steps.
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25. Bring your own questions
Managers are more likely to give candid feedback if you ask for it. So ask a general question – “What two things do you think I can do to most improve my work?” – or ask about areas you think need strengthening, such as “Can you recommend a strategy for dealing with all this paperwork?”
26. Make a plan
After any performance review, take time to write down your manager’s recommendations or areas where you are underperforming, and then make a step by step plan for how to enact the recommendations or improve your performance. Consult your manager or colleagues as needed in creating your plan.
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27. Diversify your professional activities.
Doing the same social work over and over again can be depleting. Diversifying the type of work you do has been shown to improve both personal mental health and professional output.
- Conduct multiple forms of therapy: individual; couples; group
- Work with different types of problems
- Work with different types of patients: ethnicity; age; social background; profession
- Try teaching, researching, or learning alongside counseling
28. Continue learning.
Your degree qualifies you to be a social worker, but it definitely doesn’t teach you everything you will need to know. Good social workers keep learning as they go, whether that means pursuing another degree, taking courses or attending workshops, or doing research on your own as issues come up.
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29. Gather information in order to assess your clients’ situation.
This is an ongoing process that takes place during interviews with the client. It requires actively listening to your client and being open to verbal and nonverbal information, as well as input from colleagues and other members of the client system. Common areas addressed during assessment include:
- Motivating factors in seeking your services
- Living arrangements, including the safety of the home environment
- Vocational history
- Cultural values and beliefs
- Family composition and potential support offered by family
- Barriers to the client’s use of community resources
- Client’s coping styles
- Client’s perception of the needed changes
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What hospice workers make
30. Set priorities and goals.
Based on the assessment, work with the client to set achievable goals to address their situation. For a client who is homeless, such overarching goals might include overcoming substance abuse, getting a job, and then acquiring housing.
31. Implement a plan to achieve the client’s goals.
The plan should translate the client’s goals into specific objectives and the steps needed to achieve those objectives. Resources available to help the client should be noted, and a schedule created to measure progress. Such plans often include:
- Education and coaching in life skills
- Individual, couples, and group counseling and psychotherapy
- Mediation and conflict resolution
- Advocacy on behalf of clients
- Resource information and referrals (often including financial, housing, legal, and medical resources)
- Planning for the termination of services
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What hospice workers make
32. Advocate for your clients.
Part of the job of a social worker is to advocate for his or her clients’ access to services, including securing funding, educating the public and lawmakers regarding the need for resources, and addressing service gaps and discrimination that present barriers to clients.
33. Work with other services and organizations.
To ensure the best outcome for your clients, it will usually be necessary to work closely with other organizations – hospitals, schools, doctors, work training centers, etc. – that provide services that are helpful to your client.
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What hospice workers make
34. Keep a record of your case activities.
Keeping an up-to-date record of each case is important in allowing you to manage your case load, in ensuring that another social worker will be able to easily step in if the case is transferred, in coordinating services for your clients, in arranging for service reimbursement, and in providing support for case work managers in the event of legal review.
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35. Learn on how to getting the Job
Hospice care workers must first be certified to work through the state board of registered nurses. Aside from being certified and having experience working with elderly and terminally ill patients, hospice workers need to have a strong sense of patience and compassion for patients who are terminally ill or suffering from severe disabilities. They need a desire to help people and must be emotionally stable, especially if they are working with terminally ill patients. Many patients they work with will be under hospice care because they are expected to only have several days left to live. Patients in this situation will often be sent home to be with their family, but have hospice there working for them to make sure their last days are comfortable and they are well taken care of.
Hospice workers will also need experience working in a hospital environment. Those who wish to work as a hospice worker often gain experience working with patients and in a hospital environment while training to become a nurse. Some will even work as nurses before moving on to working solely as a hospice worker.
Hospice workers
36. Know about the Job Prospects
Hospice workers often gain experience in the medical workforce by first working as a registered nurse. Many nurses work as a hospice care worker on occasion, so over time many of them will decide they want to work solely as a hospice worker. From there, they can advance their education and obtain a Master’s in hospice care, and then work in residential care facilities and houses of people in need of hospice. Many workers are employed through a hospice agency and deal with a specific set of clients.
Employment outlook for hospice workers is on the rise due to the high demand for home care for elderly patients. As the baby boomer generation gets older, it is expected that more will be living in resident care facilities and looking for in-home care. There is almost always a higher demand for nurses working in the hospice field due to the fact that hospice work takes a great deal of emotional stability and the ability to deal with a stressful environment.
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What hospice workers make
37. Know their Working Conditions and Environment
Hospice workers most commonly work in the homes of their patients. They will have to be comfortable working in someone else’s home and perform duties for them including cleaning, doing laundry, cooking meals and helping them with activities such as showering, bathing or going to the bathroom. Hospice workers will also distribute medication and simply be there as someone the patient can talk to regarding their illness or anything else.
38. What hospice workers make
Working in hospice can be an extremely stressful environment, particularly for a worker who has patients that are on their last days. Hospice workers must be able to maintain a professional yet comforting demeanor if there is other family in the home, and be able to perform any duties needed for members of the household. They may also be expected to stay overnight in the event that there is an emergency and a nurse is needed right away
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39. What hospice workers make
The work environment for a hospice worker may also be unpleasant or call for unpleasant duties to be performed. Emptying bedpans, cleaning soiled sheets and bathing patients are common duties that hospice workers are expected to perform. Most duties are similar to what would be done in a hospital, but on an even more personal level if they are working in a patient’s home.
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40. Get the Benefits
Hospice workers often make an hourly wage with plenty of overtime opportunities due to the occasional need for extra hours spent with certain patients, or even the occasional overnight stay. Depending on how many patients a hospice worker is working with at any specific time, the more hours they will work and the more money they will bring in.
Hospice workers are usually employed by hospitals or state agencies, which both provide excellent benefits for employees. Hospice workers receive full health insurance plans, vacation time and sick leave availability.
Conclusion:
Average Compassionate Care Hospice hourly pay ranges from approximately $12.92 per hour for Home Health Aide to $59.64 per hour for Registered Nurse. The average Compassionate Care Hospice salary ranges from approximately $24,000 per year for Home Health Aide to $74,621 per year for Registered Nurse Case Manager.
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