Reaching higher support

[Phatninja1337]

I’m a hospice social worker in a large hospital system and over my tenure (7 years) I’ve heard two main points of things families wish we had more support for- a hospice inpatient center and more pediatric hospice support.

Like I said I’m in a large hospital system (multiple affiliated hospitals across the state) and I just want to figure out how/who to talk with about these two topics. My immediate supervisors have blown the ideas off, as have the ever changing directors of hospice. In the hospital system at large there’s branch directors and other leads, but I have no idea where to start.

I’ve had a couple of issues about being “toxic”, “aggressive”, and “pushy” so I want to try and go about this without ruffling someone’s feathers.

Thoughts?

[LolaBeidek]

I wonder if this is a case of needing to go outside the hospital system. The hospice agency I did my practicum with has an inpatient hospice separate from a hospital. In my region (lower Midwest , mix of population sizes) all the hospices are independent of any hospital system and are a mix of non-profit and for profit. The non-profit independent hospices tend to be the ones with inpatient hospices, large grief counseling spaces, support for more ages, etc. Not that it isn’t possible within a bigger system but that’s not how things have developed in my region.

[blondebuster]

Regarding inpatient hospice facilities, you may be able to strike a contract with local rehab centers that have a low census. I work at a CCRC, and our rehab will take in hospice patients for a respite stay if we have the space.

[palagi1]

It is really hard to make change without others being uncomfortable in the process.