The New Hospice Nurse Survival Guide

New to hospice nursing—or coming back after time away? This guide was made for you. 🤍

Hospice nursing is different. You’re expected to assess independently, recognize subtle decline, manage symptoms, educate overwhelmed families, handle crisis visits, document the clinical story—and somehow know what to say during some of the hardest moments of a person’s life.

The New Hospice Nurse Survival Guide gives you practical, real-world guidance to help you feel more prepared walking into those moments.

Inside you’ll find 15 practical chapters covering:

• Routine hospice visits and what to assess

• Recognizing and documenting decline

• Pain and symptom management

• Restlessness and terminal agitation

• Decreased eating and drinking

• Actively dying patients

• Comfort medications and family concerns

• Difficult family conversations

• When to call the provider/IDT

• PRN and crisis visits

• After-death visits

• Hospice documentation

• Boundaries, burnout and protecting yourself as a hospice nurse

• And more

PLUS 7 quick-reference tools designed to be printed or kept on your phone for easy access in the field.

This isn’t a textbook. It’s the practical guidance, conversation help, assessment reminders, and experienced-hospice-nurse perspective I wish every nurse had when starting hospice.

Same compassion. More confidence. 🤍

Format: Digital PDF • Instant download

For educational purposes only. This resource does not replace clinical judgment, individualized patient orders/plan of care, organizational policy, provider guidance, or applicable laws and scope-of-practice requirements.