Renal Dialysis Tech

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Sep 14, 2003

Originally posted by d007tokill
I have a question that I hope some one will and can answer.
I have injured my lower back and need to start a new carrier. I need to know if dialysis would be ok for this type of injury. Also, I am not a nurse but have a lot of medical back ground from my Army day's. Granted it's bee a while. I live in Southern CA. and would like to know if it's possible to brake into this field with just a tech cert. to start, & what kind of salary to expect.
Thank's

Dialysis is very hard on the back, lots of lifting and transferring pts, bending over for periods of time to cannulate accesses, carrying 5 gallon jugs of bicarb and K+. I find dialysis to be harder on my back than nursing home work.

I live in the Texas, techs start at $7./hr in my area.

It is not required that they have any type of medical background.

jnette, ASN, EMT-I · Sep 14, 2003

Agree with that, my friend.

Techs (AND nurses) do a LOT of lifting/carrying. The jugs of acid and bicarb weigh about 28 lbs. Unless you go to a facility which has a central system where it is pumped into the machines, you'll be carrying these jugs around a LOT.

I have taken to sitting down to cannulate as much as possible lately to save the ol' back.. that helps. But depending on your patients, there may well be quite a bit of transferring, etc. Go to a facility in mind and look around a day or two to get a feel for it. See if this is something your back can handle.

As far as your qualifications, they should be fine. Most companies have a 4-56 week trainig program for techs, regardless of background.

Our techs in my area of Va. (low pay area) start at $7.50/hr. but I know of places where the pay is substantially higher.

d007tokill · Sep 14, 2003

Thank's for the info.!!