Hospice GIP Nurse

Where Compassion Meets Clinical Excellence. Making Every Moment Matter at MorseLife.

About MorseLife

For more than 40 years, MorseLife Health System has been setting the standard for exceptional senior care in South Florida. As a nonprofit healthcare system, we are dedicated to enriching the lives of older adults through compassionate care, clinical excellence, innovation, and service.

We are proud to be recognized as a:

• Great Place To Work® Certified employer
• 5-Star Teaching Nursing Home
• Recipient of the Gold Seal Award from the Governor’s Panel on Excellence in Long-Term Care

At MorseLife, learning never stops. As a respected teaching organization, we proudly partner with leading colleges, universities, and healthcare training institutions to educate and mentor the next generation of healthcare professionals. Through our robust clinical rotation program, students gain valuable hands-on experience while working alongside experienced clinicians and interdisciplinary teams dedicated to excellence.

Our academic partners include:

• Academy for Nursing and Health Occupations
• Barry University
• Florida Atlantic University (FAU)
• Florida International University (FIU)
• Keiser University
• Lynn University
• Nova Southeastern University (NSU)
• Palm Beach State College (PBSC)
• South Florida Healthcare Institute
• South University
• University of Miami (UM)

Whether you’re beginning your career or bringing years of experience, you’ll find opportunities to learn, grow, and make a meaningful impact every day.

MorseLife by the Numbers

• 40+ years of serving South Florida seniors and their families.
• 1,700+ dedicated team members united by a shared mission.
• 5-Star Teaching Nursing Home recognized for excellence in care.
• Great Place To Work® Certified workplace.
• Gold Seal Award recipient from the Governor’s Panel on Excellence in Long-Term Care.
• 11 academic partnerships helping educate tomorrow’s healthcare professionals.
• Comprehensive continuum of care, including Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care, Skilled Nursing, Short-Term Rehabilitation, Hospice, Home Health, PACE, and Community-Based Services.
• Mission-driven nonprofit organization committed to excellence, compassion, and innovation.

Position Summary

The Hospice GIP Nurse provides skilled, compassionate nursing care to hospice patients receiving General Inpatient (GIP) level of care within an approved setting. The nurse provides intensive symptom management, ongoing assessment, clinical intervention, patient and family education, and coordination of care consistent with the hospice philosophy, individualized plan of care, physician orders, and applicable scope of practice. The GIP Nurse manages the intensive, short-term treatment of pain and acute symptoms that cannot feasibly be handled in another setting, ensuring strict compliance with GIP utilization criteria. The GIP Nurse also Supports timely stabilization of symptoms and assists the interdisciplinary team in evaluating the patient's continued need for GIP and readiness to transition to a lower level of hospice care. When GIP census and patient acuity permit, the nurse functions in a flexible hospice float capacity to support patients and clinical teams throughout the hospice service area. Depending upon assigned shift and organizational need, responsibilities may include scheduled or unscheduled hospice, emergent or symptom-management visits, admissions when within scope and competency, death visits, continuous care support, and other nursing services necessary to maintain continuity of hospice care.

How You’ll Make an Impact

• Provides skilled nursing care to patients receiving the GIP level of hospice care for pain, symptom management, and other acute needs related to the terminal illness and related conditions.
• Performs ongoing nursing assessments appropriate to the patient's condition, level of care, plan of care, and professional scope of practice.
• Monitors patient response to medications, treatments, interventions, and changes in the plan of care and promptly communicates significant changes to the appropriate RN, hospice physician/medical director, attending physician, and interdisciplinary team as applicable.
• Provides aggressive palliative symptom management consistent with hospice philosophy, physician orders, organizational policy, and the individualized plan of care.
• Administers medications and treatments within the nurse's legal scope of practice and documents patient response and effectiveness of interventions.
• Recognizes changes in condition requiring modification of interventions, physician notification, escalation of care, or reassessment of the patient's level of care.
• Maintains frequent communication with patients, families, caregivers, facility personnel, physicians, pharmacy, DME providers, and members of the hospice interdisciplinary team as necessary to ensure coordinated care.
• Provides patient and family education regarding disease progression, signs and symptoms of active dying, medications, comfort measures, safety, and the hospice plan of care.
• Supports the emotional, psychosocial, spiritual, cultural, and educational needs of patients and families and initiates referrals to other hospice disciplines when appropriate.
• Participates in interdisciplinary care planning and contributes clinically relevant information regarding symptom burden, response to interventions, patient goals, and discharge or transition planning.
• Supports timely transition from GIP to the appropriate hospice level of care once symptoms are sufficiently managed and GIP criteria are no longer met.
• Ensures that care delivered is consistent with current physician orders and the hospice plan of care.
• Completes clinical documentation accurately, completely, and within required organizational timeframes, including documentation supporting the patient's condition, interventions provided, response to treatment, communication with providers, and continued need for the assigned level of care.
• Completes medication reconciliation, controlled-substance processes, supply/DME coordination, incident reporting, infection-control reporting, and other required clinical documentation according to organizational policy.
• Participates in handoff communication at shift change and ensures that unresolved symptoms, medication changes, pending orders, safety concerns, and other pertinent clinical information are clearly communicated.
• Perform all other duties as assigned.

FLOAT AND AFTER-HOURS RESPONSIBILITIES

• When GIP census, patient acuity, and operational needs allow, the GIP Nurse may be assigned to support hospice patients and clinical teams throughout the hospice service area. (The primary responsibility of the nurse remains the safe care of assigned GIP patients. Float responsibilities shall not compromise the staffing, monitoring, or clinical needs of patients receiving GIP care.)

Responsibilities may include:

• Completing scheduled or unscheduled skilled nursing visits.
• Responding to emergent changes in condition and uncontrolled Symptoms.
• Supporting patients experiencing pain, dyspnea, agitation, nausea/vomiting, terminal secretions, anxiety, bleeding, or other end-of-life symptoms.
• Providing follow-up visits after changes in medication, treatment, condition, or level of care.
• Supporting Continuous Care, crisis-management, or other enhanced nursing needs as assigned.
• Performing death visits and providing immediate support and education to families following a patient's death.
• Coordinating with the hospice triage/on-call team during evening, overnight, weekend, and holiday hours.
• Supporting clinical teams during periods Of increased census, staffing shortages, PTO, leave, or unexpected patient-care needs.
• Assisting with admissions when assigned, provided the nurse possesses the required licensure, training, demonstrated competency, and organizational authorization to perform the admission.
• Completing comprehensive nursing assessments and other RN-specific functions when assigned and when performed by an RN.
• Providing LPN nursing services under appropriate RN/physician direction and within the LPN scope of practice when the position is filled by an LPN.

What You’ll Bring

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each primary function satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

• Associate's degree (A.A.) or equivalent from a two-year college or technical school and one-year related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Two or more years in Hospice or in a hospital setting preferred.
• Demonstrates flexibility, independent clinical judgment, strong communication.
• Possesses the ability to transition between campus-based GIP responsibilities and community-based hospice care according to patient need and operational priorities.
• Ability to drive extensively in a geographic area. Must be able to access clients' homes, which will not be routinely wheelchair accessible.

Certificates, Licenses, Registrations

• Valid Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) or Registered Nurse (RN) License in the state of Florida.
• Valid CPR Certification.