WHAT DOES A HOSPICE NURSE DO?

Published: Jul 22, 2025 - The Hospice Nurse provides comprehensive nursing care by developing individualized care plans, administering medications, and coordinating with physicians and interdisciplinary team members to ensure continuity of care. This position advocates for patients and families, assesses educational needs, and delivers or coordinates appropriate teaching and support services. The nurse also supervises support staff, leads emergency response efforts when needed, and contributes to quality improvement initiatives to enhance care delivery efficiency and effectiveness.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Hospice Nurse

1. Hospice Nurse Duties

  • Needs Assessment: Initiates the nursing process to assess the needs of customers and families.
  • Diagnosis Formulation: Formulates nursing diagnoses that focus care and identify customer outcomes.
  • Care Planning: Plans nursing care that includes interventions.
  • Care Implementation: Implements and evaluates the plan.
  • Evidence-Based Practice: Uses the best available evidence, preferably research data blended with caring and compassion, to develop the plan of care and interventions.
  • Collaboration: Collaborates with customers, families, peers, and other care providers to provide continuity of customer care.
  • Task Delegation: Assigns or delegates tasks as defined by the state nurse practice act, organizational expectations, and according to the knowledge and skills of the designated caregiver.
  • Crisis Response: Recognizes emergent and unsafe situations and responds promptly and effectively.
  • Ethical Advocacy: Be aware of ethical dilemmas and advocate for customers, families, co-workers, and others in need.
  • Quality Evaluation: Systematically evaluates the quality, safety, and effectiveness of customer care practices.

2. Hospice Nurse Details

  • Practice Evaluation: Evaluates one's nursing practice against professional practice standards and relevant statutes and regulations.
  • Professional Development: Contributes to the professional development of peers, students, and other health care providers and promotes shared accountability and decision making for nursing practice.
  • Financial Efficiency: Contributes to organizational financial efficiency.
  • Charge Nurse Role: Accepts and performs charge nurse responsibilities, following orientation to the role, as delegated by the unit manager or designee.
  • Regulatory Compliance: Recognizes and complies with legal, regulatory, accrediting, and procedural requirements related to the area of responsibility.
  • Code of Conduct: Understands and follows principles and standards as outlined in North Memorial's Corporate Code of Conduct.
  • Privacy Protection: Protects customer and team member privacy and only accesses customer and/or team member-related information to perform job duties.
  • Compliance Reporting: Reports violations or areas of concern to the supervisor or the Corporate Compliance Officer via established methods of communication.

3. Hospice Nurse Job Summary

  • Effective Communication: Communicates effectively with staff, residents, and families.
  • Care Planning: Assesses, develops, and maintains an individualized patient plan of care with the patient.
  • Medication Administration: Performs Medication Administration Pass according to regulatory guidelines.
  • Resident Assessment: Informs the MDS coordinator of significant resident/patient changes needed for completion of the MDS.
  • Team Collaboration: Communicates with other members of the health care team in order to ensure continuity of care and coordination of services.
  • Patient Advocacy: Acts as a patient/family advocate.
  • Patient Education: Evaluates patients’ and significant others’ educational needs and develops and implements appropriate teaching strategies or makes appropriate referrals.
  • Condition Reporting: Observes and reports the patient’s condition, needs, and outcomes of intervention to the physician and other team members.
  • Emergency Response: Identifies problems and emergencies, and initiates immediate “life-saving” measures in the absence of a physician.
  • Staff Supervision: Teaches and supervises the care provided by CNA, LPN, or other nursing service personnel according to regulatory and agency guidelines.
  • Care Implementation: Implements the plan of care by providing nursing services, including teaching, treatments, diagnostics, and preventive procedures, regularly evaluating the patient’s progress toward established goals, recommending revisions to the plan, and planning for termination of service or discharge.
  • Leadership Delegation: Assumes a leadership role and delegates appropriately to support staff to facilitate safe, quality patient care cost-effectively.
  • Process Improvement: Participates in ongoing process improvement activities through the application of clinical paths, QA processes, and other related activities.
  • Quality Monitoring: Ensures that processes and services are continuously monitored for quality, cost effectiveness, and efficiency.

4. Hospice Nurse Functions

  • Leadership Inspiration: Lead, inspire, and motivate others to provide exceptional care to hospice clients.
  • Admissions Coordination: Coordinate the admissions process from referral to case opening.
  • Physician Coordination: Coordinate with referring physicians and ensure all necessary equipment and clinical orders are in place for admission.
  • Supervisory Visits: Visit adult and geriatric clients for supervisory visits or to assist with admissions.
  • Team Supervision: Supervise a team of nurses and other field clinicians.
  • Orientation Training: Facilitate new hire orientation and training of new clinicians.
  • Staff In-Service: Coordinate and/or deliver in-services for field staff.
  • Regulatory Compliance: Work closely with patients and their caregiving team to maintain regulatory compliance.

5. Hospice Nurse Job Description

  • Medical Intervention: Initiates and provides medical interventions in response to acute changes in patient conditions.
  • Educational Services: Provides educational services to nursing and ancillary departments and serves as an educational consultant on clinical practice issues.
  • Evidence-Based Collaboration: Applies evidence-based practices to achieve multidisciplinary collaboration to facilitate continuity of care.
  • Physician Collaboration: Contributes to the satisfaction of the medical staff by collaborating with physicians to deliver the best care.
  • Change Management: Recognizes and utilizes opportunities to act as a change agent by introducing nursing practice innovations.
  • Quality Improvement: Participates in the ongoing systematic Quality Assessment and Improvement process.
  • Practice Evaluation: Evaluates nursing practices associated with the specialty area, defines needs/problems with patient care, and makes constructive suggestions that create a positive patient outcome.
  • Safety Awareness: Works in a constant state of alertness and a safe manner.

6. Hospice Nurse Overview

  • Care Coordination: Coordinates hospice care by working with other team members as well as with the patients/family members to ensure needs are met.
  • Service Evaluation: Evaluates the effectiveness of hospice services to the patient and family on an ongoing basis.
  • Care Evaluation: Performs evaluations for hospice care along with informational visits.
  • Nursing Process: Utilizes the nursing process to provide professional nursing care.
  • Schedule Management: Submits the patient visit schedule weekly.
  • LPN Supervision: Provides guidance and supervision to the LPN and supervises the LPN a minimum of every 30 days.
  • Care Planning: Prepares the care plan for the Hospice Aide/Home Attendant.
  • Clinical Management: Manages, including education, coordinating resources, delegating to other team members, pain and symptom management, and skilled medical interventions.

7. Hospice Nurse Details and Accountabilities

  • Patient Care Delivery: Works as part of the hospice team to provide care, monitor health conditions, administer medication, use medical equipment, and advise patients and their families on the current prognosis.
  • Care Standards: Works alongside the Senior Staff Nurses on the ward, responsible for ensuring the right standard of care is provided to all patients at all times.
  • Multidisciplinary Collaboration: Works across the inpatient facility and day services, along with the community team and the lymphedema service.
  • Issue Identification: Quickly identifies any issues or concerns and acts accordingly.
  • Patient Transfer: Assists in the safe transfer of critically ill patients, along with the management of emotional and distressful situations.
  • Record Keeping: Responsible for ensuring that patients' records are kept up to date.
  • Care Assessment: Assesses, plans, implements, and evaluates patient care.
  • Care Coordination: Coordinates patient care provided by other disciplines that meet the physiological, safety, spiritual, and psychosocial needs of the patients and their families.

8. Hospice Nurse Additional Details

  • Skilled Nursing Care: Provides medically prescribed skilled nursing care and/or health counseling that contributes to the treatment of the medical condition, achievement of the rehabilitation potential, and/or reduction of pain and other symptoms.
  • Initial Assessment: Makes the initial visit to assess the patient's physical and emotional status, needs, and resources through observation, interview, and analysis of records.
  • Care Planning: Prepares the nursing plan of care, by the physician's plan of treatment, based on problems identified in the nursing assessment, and provides patient teaching using the Care Plan/Standard of Care.
  • Confidentiality Compliance: Maintains the confidentiality of resident information in compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and sensitive organizational information.
  • Patient Evaluation: Evaluates patients and checks vital signs.
  • Care Plan Implementation: Develops and implements care plans.
  • Family Support: Provides support to family members.
  • Death Notification: Notifies the necessary parties of the patient's death.
  • Protocol Adherence: Adheres to physician orders and protocols.

9. Hospice Nurse General Responsibilities

  • Caseload Management: Accountable for an assigned caseload of patients to a developed plan of care.
  • Privacy Compliance: Adheres to privacy and security standards provided by all federal, state, and local authorities of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and other applicable state laws.
  • Care Plan Development: Develops and implements a comprehensive, goal-focused, patient-centered care plan for each patient and makes updates by written orders from the physician, ensuring patient collaboration and understanding.
  • Home Visits: Makes planned home visits according to the individualized patient's Plan of Care.
  • Referral Management: Makes referrals to other services as indicated.
  • Patient Rights: Honors and upholds patient rights.
  • Direct Care: Provides direct patient care to patients who have been admitted to palliative care.
  • Case Management: Provides RN Case Management services to the agency's clients located in various facilities and/or homes in the Chicago suburbs.
  • Patient Assessment: Performs assessments on the patient's situation, as well as detects changes in symptoms, health, or pain, and needs to know when action is necessary.
  • Physician Collaboration: Works with doctors to administer medications, monitor vital signs, and detect subtle changes in a patient's health.

10. Hospice Nurse Duties and Roles

  • Referral Review: Reviews clinical referral information and responds to requests and inquiries.
  • Pre-Assessment Services: Provides information, pre-assessment, and admission services.
  • Pre-Assessment Visits: Conducts pre-assessment visits in the home or healthcare facility.
  • Nursing Application: Applies nursing principles and techniques in the treatment of patients.
  • Patient Support: Provides nursing care, emotional support, and education to patients and families.
  • Care Participation: Encourages patients and family members to participate in the patient's plan of care to meet established goals.
  • Skilled Nursing: Provides skilled nursing care and emotional support to terminally ill patients in their homes.
  • Patient Admission: Admits patients and conducts comprehensive initial in-home assessments.
  • Caseload Management: Manages a caseload of patients, including developing appropriate care plans and revising as circumstances change, scheduling visits, etc.
  • Service Coordination: Plans and coordinates a variety of services for patients provided by UVM Home Health and Hospice and other community health care, human service, and hospice organizations.
  • Documentation Compliance: Prepares all required clinical and administrative documentation related to assigned activities, including admissions write-ups, chart notes, documentation of conversations, care plans, and the like, adhering to all relevant legal regulations, technical requirements of government agencies, internal procedures, and professional standards.
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