New to dialysis

[missvwbugs]

I am new to dialysis after working ER for 20 some years, then med surge for a short while then LTC for a short while..I cry almost every day when I leave work. I have now the understanding that six weeks of training will get you nowhere...lol even if you think you are a fast learner...nowhere at all. You cannot learn in six weeks what You need to know to be a dialysis nurse.

1) overflowed our bicarbonate tank once..was terrified I did something major wrong...lol the alarms are really loud ...lol people move really fast when those alarms in the water room go off...lol

2) I could not remember how to turn the valves off and on so AS I was filling a bicarbonate tank it was emptying. Had to start that process over...lol so my boss took me around the room and made me figure out off and on valves were. Won't forget them ever again...lol

3) I put too much water into the bicarbonate tank as I was trying to multitask and did not pay attention...lol Geesh wasted two bags bicarbonate...

4) It took me six weeks to string a machine with some semblance of confidence and I still ask questions and still feel my heart drop to my feet when alarms go off

5) I can now confidently put a patient on a machine and take them off with only minimal help.

6) I know it takes up to a year to feel comfortable with dialysis but I am here to tell you that being an ER nurse does not help in this department at all.

7) I think for this job you have to be younger than my 59 years...lol we do tech work as well as nursing work. I come home exhausted but have managed to loose a few pounds from sweating so much and lugging bicarbonate and acid jugs around. Not to mention up and down positions to wash equipment and chairs.

8) for nurses and techs who have been doing this for a number of years...to them it is so easy . For us newbies and older nurses ( who do not have that faster thought process anymore) it is so very hard to do this job.

Oh and don't forget about all the times you will get soaking wet washing jugs and lifting the lid on the bicarbonate tank when the sprayer is on.. Facial features are hilarious at those times...lol

But overall they say I am doing fine...they that have so much more experience than myself...yesterday I only texted my hubby once to say can I quit this job yet? And I did not cry when I got home..

So Happy New Year to all of us.. It has to be better

[just keep swimming]

I have a friend who works as a dialysis tech... If he can do it anybody can... I dont see how the RN role is that much more difficult.. SeriouslyYears of experience means nothing... The quality of those years is a different story...With that said... As long as you havent killed anybody, youre doing something right

I think you are very wrong. I have been in dialysis for 9 years, 2 as a PCT and the rest as a nurse. I am charge in a 24 chair inner city unit with patients who have no primary care and multiple comorbidities. Not anyone could do this job. It is physically, mentally, and emotionally taxing and the learning never stops as long as you want to learn.

I have worked with many nurses and PCTs who couldn't hack it! The role of an RN in dialysis is a lot more complicated than you think...please do not put down a specialty until you have tried it.

Trauma, you are right, it may not be as chaotic as a level 1 trauma center; however the backround stuff that RNs do in dialysis can be very in depth. And, at least where I work, there is no one to turn to if there are complications or emergencies. I don't have a team or a doctor there with me when I run a code. Assessment skills are crucial because a doctor is not coming right behind me to verify what I find. Then add on top of all of that the need for good management skills because you are managing a whole team of PCTs....the list goes on!

I guess it is possible to do the minimum to make sure your patients "just survive" but if you want to be a good nurse, there is a lot more to do than just that....think nephrology, cardiology, endocrinology wrapped up into one job.