This episode is all about leadership.

Everyone in hospice is a leader, and being a leader is completely different than being a boss.

In this episode I provide some practical advice to help make sure we never lose our perspective on what our nurses go through every day.

I encourage administrators and clinical directors to do ride alongs with a field nurse at least twice a year.

I spend quite a bit of time talking about avoiding spending a lot of time trying to place blame for agency failures.

In a very strange turn of events, I spend time talking about the dangers of gaslighting when trying to always place blame when mistakes happen.

At the end of the show I recommend the following books to help us all grow as leaders.

Leaders Eat Last – Simon Sinek

The Speed of Trust – Stephen Covey

It’s your Ship – Michael Abroshoff

Developing the leader within you – John Maxwell

Developing the leaders around you – John Maxwell

Becoming a person of influence – John Maxwell

The 21 Irrefutable laws of leadership – John Maxwell

The 8 paradoxes of great leadership – Tim Elmore

In a pit with a lion on a snowy day – Mark Batterson

As always, don’t forget to call, text or email to leave feedback! I would love to hear from you!

816-834-9191
James@confessionsofahospicenurse.net

Be sure to check out The Hospice Nursing Community for more hope, help and encouragement!

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In this episode I perform (if you want to call it that) dramatic readings of 11 posts from this blog.

You can view and read the blog posts from the following links.

The Last Bath

The Last Prayer

Hospice Is Like Haircuts?

Be Like Aunt Joyce

My Friends Keep Dying

A Night at the Park

The Last Kiss

The Guardian

I Remember Angie

Whatever You Say, James

It’s Okay To Die On Thanksgiving

As always, don’t forget to call, text or email to leave feedback! I would love to hear from you!

816-834-9191
James@confessionsofahospicenurse.net

Be sure to check out The Hospice Nursing Community for more hope, help and encouragement!

Subscribe Via Email!

For this episode I take one of my coaching sessions from inside The Hospice Nursing Community and bring it to the show.

This is something I have ever done before. In general, I like to make sure content inside of The Hospice Nursing Community is unique and cannot be found anywhere else.

In this episode, I review 8 different characteristics that I believe are essential for a successful case manager to possess.

1. Reliability
   The agency and its patients will suffer if they have a case manager who calls in all the time and is generally unreliable.
   
2. Orgainized
   A case manager must be organized to be successful.
   
3. Integrity
   A case manager needs to be a person of their word. They need to be where they say that will be and do what they say they will do.
   
4. Humility
   An arrogant case manager has no place in hospice. At its care, Hospice care is serving others. Arrogant nurses struggle with serving others.
   
5. Honesty
   Hospice comes with a lot of autonomy. It is easily for hospice staff in general to sneak around and get caught up in personal activities when they should be working.
   
6. Ownership
   A good case manager takes ownership of their caseload. They don’t wait around for someone else to fix the problems. they are proactive.
   
7. Present
   A case manager avoids distractions during patient visits. They also chart at the bedside.
   
8. Be a Finisher
   A case manager must make sure they walk in the front door of their home with the day’s work completed, because home is our first job.

Every one of these character traits are essential for case management succsss.

As always, don’t forget to call, text or email to leave feedback! I would love to hear from you!

816-834-9191
James@confessionsofahospicenurse.net

Be sure to check out The Hospice Nursing Community for more hope, help and encouragement!

Subscribe Via Email!

In this episode I answer the following question from May. May has been charged with a hospice startup.

I always strive to maintain the values of empathy and fairness, and I am committed to being an unwavering advocate for our team and our patients. Currently, we’ve encountered challenges with documentation using Matrix Care. The process has proven to be time-consuming, and I am reaching out to see if you have insight on how to optimize the documentation procedures. I would greatly appreciate any pointers or guidance you can provide.

I take the long road to answer May’s question by sharing what I would want to focus on if I were in her position.

I cover the following concepts.

1. Ask yourself “does it scale,” with every new idea or solution.
2. The importance of creating culture
3. Team first. Patients second.
4. Build and maintain a robust orientation program
5. Deep dive your EMR
6. Be a brave leader

During the episode I share that I am currently building what I call “Tip Sheets” for Kantime; the EMR my company uses.

I explain that I will be offering my Kantime Tip Sheets as a product from The Hospice Nursing Community. Please reach out to me via email at james@confessionsofahospicenurse.net or phone at 816-834-9191 to be put on the waiting list.

During the show I offer May a free membership at The Hospice Nursing Community with access to my Tip Sheets template as well as all my orientation materials to help her get started with this new endeavor.

As always, don’t forget to call, text or email to leave feedback! I would love to hear from you!

816-834-9191
James@confessionsofahospicenurse.net

Be sure to check out The Hospice Nursing Community for more hope, help and encouragement!

Subscribe Via Email!

In this episode I step aside from clinical talk, and revisit a phone call I had with listener Chauncey.

Last week I had a great conversation with Chauncey. We discussed the challenges a new marketer can face when working a territory for the first time.

In this episode I discuss the difference between referral sources that provide a lot of referrals versus the ones that only provide a few or have never provided a referral. I call these crock pot referral sources and microwave referral sources.

During the episode I discuss the importance of creating a consistent and repeatable process that will help referral sources build a certain level of expectation.

I talk about developing a balance between selling hospice philosophy and hospice services.

Towards the end I explain that all of hospice is really about trust and relationship. These two things are the foundation for which every hospice should be built upon.

As always, don’t forget to call, text or email to leave feedback! I would love to hear from you!

816-834-9191
James@confessionsofahospicenurse.net

Be sure to check out The Hospice Nursing Community for more hope, help and encouragement!

Subscribe via Email!

In this episode I answer the following question sent to me by Pamela.

Any interest in a show that highlights weekend/evening staff. The challenge I face is communication. If staff do not add thorough notes, email/call me, or otherwise give report, It really makes my job a struggle! Also, remembering we are part of team. I am blessed with a great team, but can see where this position could be undervalued. I personally love being weekend on call! It is like semi retirement. Feel free to reach out if this is of interest

I also (politely) admonish the Monday – Friday staff on the importance of making sure we complete our charting timely so our on-call staff feel appreciated.

I review some strategies I have used at several companies to help improve communication between the day shift and on-call staff.

I talk about the end of day (EOD) email that goes out Monday – Friday where I work as well as the Stand Down call we do every Friday before the weekend staff takes the stage.

You can download a template of the EOD email from my website downloads HERE.

I finish the episode by spending some time empowering on-call nurses to believe in their ability to provide great hospice care in the absence of completed charting and medication lists.

As always, don’t forget to call, text or email to leave feedback! I would love to hear from you!

816-834-9191
James@confessionsofahospicenurse.net

Be sure to check out The Hospice Nursing Community for more hope, help and encouragement!

Subscribe Via Email!

In this episode I answer a question from Gina.

In a recent email from Gina, she asks the following question.

One topic I would love for you to cover is that of high case loads – and what you consider that number to be, what number is considered ideal for excellent, superior care and how to manage/re-work your visit frequencies when those loads are high. 

During this episode I do cover what I consider to be a normal caseload. I explain that our caseload should really be measured by how many visits we make during a week when our goal is to see most of them at least twice per week.

I explain that years of experience does play a large role in determining how many patients someone can manage at once.

I review how case management changes when the majority of our patients are in LTC facilities.

At the beginning of the episode I put out a challenge to those of us who are in leadership to make very attempt to stay connected to our field staff.

As always, don’t forget to call, text or email to leave feedback! I would love to hear from you!

816-834-9191
James@confessionsofahospicenurse.net

Be sure to check out The Hospice Nursing Community for more hope, help and encouragement!

Subscribe Via Email!

In this episode I review the 3 large projects I completed in my first 4 months as administrator.

I share the challenges most agencies face when it comes to tracking room and board charges for LTC patients.

I review the extensive orientation program I implemented to make sure all new staff get a solid and predictable onboarding experience.

The third project I completed was a revamp of our referral and admission process that ended in a 90 minute training session with the entire organization.

During the show I mention the series I wrote on what to expect from your hospice nurse.

You can review the series HERE.

As always, don’t forget to call, text or email to leave feedback! I would love to hear from you!

816-834-9191
James@confessionsofahospicenurse.net

Be sure to check out The Hospice Nursing Community for more hope, help and encouragement!

Subscribe Via Email!

In this episode I welcome back Shelley Henry from Amity Group to discuss the “Your Opinion Matters” hospice nurse survey she conducted last winter.

During the episode Shelley shares with us the 3 biggest takeaways she got from doing the survey.

1. Redundant Documentation
2. Nurse-to-patient Ratios
3. Compensation

Shelly shares some of her discoveries surrounding redundant documentation that adds almost an entire day to the week.

Shelly also shares with us her tour schedule for October 2023 that covers the national hospice conference in Little Rock, Arkansas as well as trips to Alabama and Boston.

Please be sure to follow Shelley on all her social media platforms. She uses the handle, “For Hospice Nurses,” for all her social media work.

Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn
TikTok

The Hospice Nurse Your Opinion Matters Survey will return this fall starting in October. Be sure to check it out and share it with your hospice nurse friends!

Click here to take the hospice nurse “Your Opinion Matters” survey starting October 1st 2023!

As always, don’t forget to call, text or email to leave feedback! I would love to hear from you!

816-834-9191
James@confessionsofahospicenurse.net

Be sure to check out The Hospice Nursing Community for more hope, help and encouragement!

Subscribe Via Email!