acute dialysis- lets talk money

[heygurlhey]

Been looking through the threads and money is not discussed as well as I need....

Ive been in the ICU for 5 years and half of it traveling. I am now interested in going into acute dialysis and need to know what I am worth. Ive got a job offer in San Antonio with Fresinius and they will train me (she said its about 8 weeks depending on how fast you pick it up). I did a travel assignment in an ICU there earlier this year and would grill the dialysis nurses on their experiences and I think I would really like dialysis. One RN that had been doing this 12 years said last year she made about $100,000. This is of course working 80 hours a week.

So the training is paid hourly and when on your own paid by the treatment. Can anyone in Texas or really any southern state tell me what you get per acute dialysis treatment? Also, is call every other weekend the norm? Is that usually paid even if you do no treatments? Do you take this much call even after working for years? How are Fresinius benefits? Do you like the insurance?

any info is appreciated :loveya:

[HDNurse]

Either way it sucks. $25/hr or $25/tx.

I'm just trying to figure out if it is in my best interest to go from getting $35/hour or $187/tx. Still seems to me if I am doing the 1:1 txs for the day doing 2-3 tx/day while the other nurse does 6-8 in the treatment room/day, and we both work 12 hour days, she makes out like a bandit and I get a lot less. I'm not sure I want to go to a per tx pay.

[Onekidneynurse]

Either way it sucks. $25/hr or $25/tx.

I'm just trying to figure out if it is in my best interest to go from getting $35/hour or $187/tx. Still seems to me if I am doing the 1:1 txs for the day doing 2-3 tx/day while the other nurse does 6-8 in the treatment room/day, and we both work 12 hour days, she makes out like a bandit and I get a lot less. I'm not sure I want to go to a per tx pay.

$25/hr and $25/tx are very different. You can work up to 6 hours on a treatment. For $25??? If you work in the unit at $25/hr for 6 hours that's $150. BIG difference.

[heygurlhey]

So of you that have gotten paid by the hour and by treatment, which do you think was more beneficial? How is overtime figured in each situation? Can anyone else give any money quotes for acute dialysis? Do you usually take turns doing ICUs and working on the unit to keep the $ fair when you are paid per treatment?

[bella706]

I work acutes in NY metro area for a company that contracts out acute dialysis services, so I float to a variety of hospitals in the area. I work on average 3-4 days/week and don't take call because I am officially "per-diem"...though if I worked full-time with guarenteed hours I would have to take a week of pm call about every five or six weeks.

We get paid $200 per treatment regardless of how long the patient runs for, but most of our nephrologists only order 3-3.5 hours. (Usually with new initiates they only run 2 hours for the first treatment! :-) ) I very rarely have anyone on a 4hour run.

If the patient not scheduled the day prior, it's considered and "add-on" for that day and the nurse gets $40 extra.

If the treatment begins after 5pm, the nurse gets an extra $40.

If I call and tell the unit that I will be there to dialyze the patient at 8am and I get there and the patient was sent to xray and I have to wait, I charge them for the waiting time in 15 minute incriments - which works out to about $30/hour.

Holidays are double time (for base pay only = $400/pt)

All of these differentials apply when you are on call as well.

The money is good and I love my company...but daily assignments are unpredictable and I spend a lot of time traveling. The thing I miss the most is the social outlet of working in a center/on a unit. Since I go to many hospitals and even more individual units, you never really know the nurses you are working with (some are great...some are so lazy I can't stand it), and you always are there as a bit of an outsider. I forgot to mention...these hospitals do not have their own dialysis units or staff- so all of our treatments are done bedside, regardless of if the patient is on the floor or in an ICU. We bring the machine to them (which sometimes sucks because the water hook-ups are terrible at some facilities!

Overall though... I am really happy with my salary and working conditions. I worked in chronics for 2 years prior to this (which should be mandatory to work in acutes) and though I miss the continuity of patients, I do not miss the hectic pace, chronic understaffing, pathetic raises (one of my PCT's was offered 12.5 cent/hr raise) and constant threat of "the state" surveyors visiting. Hope this helps! :)

[heygurlhey]

Yessss. Thank you! Keep em' comin' people!

:loveya:

[nursingisok]

i work in a pay per tx. i am not money hungry but if u are money hungry then i think pay per tx is the best way to go. people who dont know about it don't know that we can do tandem and get paid more for tandem. in one hospital they have so many patients and they give u a pct to help and u get paid per tx. some nurses do 12 plus patients in a day and they end up making at least a grand in a day.

to me...pay per hour sucks if u have to do tandem!

fresenius acutes is better than davita in my opinion because it is pay per treatment...plus if we have to wait for anything we can charge wait time.....plus if we're oncall you get paid extra..and anything after 4pm is extra money too.

[AM FRANCES]

What about Dialysis techs??????

[Tish88]

Either way it sucks. $25/hr or $25/tx.

I'm just trying to figure out if it is in my best interest to go from getting $35/hour or $187/tx. Still seems to me if I am doing the 1:1 txs for the day doing 2-3 tx/day while the other nurse does 6-8 in the treatment room/day, and we both work 12 hour days, she makes out like a bandit and I get a lot less. I'm not sure I want to go to a per tx pay.

Fresenius in our area, you get paid per treatment, but if you are doing 2 treatments at a time you only get paid for 1/2 the treatment amount for the second patient on - as long as they are running for at least 2 hours consecutively. So if you are running 2 at a time that would be $187 for the one and $93.50 for your second patient.

[nursingisok]

thats how our area is too. you get paid a half treatment for the othr patient but put on time for hte patient has to be within an hour . if its after an hour you get paid full tx. so most nurses take their time. and they make lots of money in the hospital that has a tech with the rn because the hospital is so busy. i am not money hungry due to mixed connective tissue disease recent dx but thats why i think its better to work with pay per tx. plus if any delay in treatment you can charge wait time and what not.

[Tish88]

thats how our area is too. you get paid a half treatment for the othr patient but put on time for hte patient has to be within an hour . if its after an hour you get paid full tx. so most nurses take their time. and they make lots of money in the hospital that has a tech with the rn because the hospital is so busy. i am not money hungry due to mixed connective tissue disease recent dx but thats why i think its better to work with pay per tx. plus if any delay in treatment you can charge wait time and what not.

There are nurses in our area that will manipulate the patients put on times too, so they get paid for the whole pay per tx. I am not money hungry either and can't stand playing around so the pt's run times don't over lap by 2 hours. My personal life is more important to me. I want to get every one done in a timely fashion and GO HOME!!!

We do not use techs in any of our hospitals. Our hospitals are very busy too. The acute rooms range from 6 - 8 beds, so at times there could be 1 - 4 nurses in the acute room at a time. We are only allowed to run 2pts per 1 RN.

[vina.rn]

$199.50/ case here in L.A

[statfin]

Do anyone know what the starting salary is in a dialysis unit in louisiana for an lpn