Patient Stories

A Second Career and a Dream Come True: The Nurse Residency Program in Action

When Marjorie Lebowitz enrolled in North Shore Community College’s Nurse Education Program, she had a clear vision for her second career.  She wanted to be a hospice nurse case manager.

While in college, she worked as a weekend hospice aide at Care Dimensions’ Kaplan House, and prior to that she had worked for 10 years as a hospital-based respiratory therapist. But she credits her mother for giving her the initial inspiration to focus on hospice.

Her mother had worked as a hospice volunteer for several years, and then at the end of her life had benefitted from hospice care. “I really admired the nursing home staff and the hospice team’s quality of care and I wanted to pay it forward to other patients and families in need,” she says. 

Soon after her nursing graduation, Marjorie applied and was accepted as one of six candidates to Fall 2019 class of Care Dimensions’ Nurse Residency Program. The hands-on mentoring and teaching initiative accepts applicants who are new nursing graduates or experienced nurses transitioning from their current practice area to hospice and palliative care.

The program was launched in 2015 and Director of Research Susan Lysaght-Hurley, PhD, RN, who manages the program explains what makes it an industry-leading program: “The nurse residents develop their hospice expertise through a combination of classroom lectures, simulated patient care scenarios, field observations and a controlled caseload of patients guided by a dedicated preceptor. This intensive training gives these new hospice nurses the foundation and support they need to succeed.”

Residencies last for three months (experienced nurses) and six months (new nursing graduates).  During this time, the residents are employed at Care Dimensions, and upon completion of the program, they are offered a full-time position as an RN case manager with a commitment to work full time for two years. Additionally, all nurse residents are then eligible to sit for national certification in hospice and palliative care (CHPN). 

 “When you have a career dream and that dream comes true, it’s a rare thing. It was the right time in my life for everything to come together.”    

Learn more about the Hospice Nurse Residency Program.