Hospice Nurses: Dedicated Experts When We Need Them

As a leading regional provider of advanced illness care, Capital Caring Health offers highly specialized, vital treatment and support. None of that care would be possible without our hospice nurses. Hospice nurses help in so many different ways, from managing patient symptoms to training families on how to care for a loved one, to coordinating care. They help patients and families know what to expect at the end of life. They have an immense responsibility to ensure that both the patient and their families feel heard and supported each step of the way.

All nurses minimize pain and provide emotional stability. But hospice care dictates a much higher level of emotional support. With their intimate knowledge of a patient’s end-of-life journey, hospice nurses become trusted confidants. Their visits are required, crucial, and an integral part of hospice care. They work closely with a patient’s chaplain to address spiritual needs. Equally important, they fiercely uphold the guiding hospice tenet that no one should die alone.

National Nurses Day is Thursday, May 6 and anchors Nurses Week, culminating in the commemoration of Florence Nightingale’s birthday on May 12. This week we say a very special thank you to all of our hospice nurses – those who have cared for our patients and loved ones in the past, those who are going on or off-shift today, and those who may be caring for us in the future. Whether their specific duty involves being an admissions nurse, a case manager, an inpatient unit nurse, a nights and weekends nurse, a triage nurse, a clinical supervisor, or a clinical hospital liaison, our hospice nurses get this impossible job done. Their persistence and compassion improve the quality of life for patients of any age and at any stage in advanced illness, whether it is curable, chronic, or life ending.

While Capital Caring Health officially observes National Nurses Week this month, our hospice nurses are celebrated each and every day for their dedication to patients and families. We heartily recognize their contributions as they provide support to our four inpatient centers, thirty hospitals, and over 3,000 advanced illness/palliative and hospice care patients daily throughout Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.