Staff Ratio in dialysis units

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

I am interested in knowing from dialysis RN's and dialysis Tech's

What is your tech-patient ratio on a normal day?

What does the RN do in a typical day-do the RN's take a pod?

Do the Tech's work with catheters or only fistula's and grafts?

What is morale like?

Are you constantly recruiting or is retention good in your unit?

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Hey there - I'm an APN in two HDUs run by Fresenius (I'm employed by the nephrology practice). The usual ratios:

Techs - 4-5 pts/tech

RNs - 10-15 pts/RN

As to whether techs deal with catheters - that's a state issue. In IL, where I practice, yes they do deal with catheters but have extra training to do so.

We also have one pt left with Life-Sites and these are an RN-only access.

Retention is an issue I think a lot of places. However, unemployment remains high in my area so RNs/techs are not moving around a lot because jobs are few and far between.

Coming from a level one trauma center, I don't think the staff at HDUs are overly stressed.

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

Do your Rn's work as tech's when they are short?

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Not exactly. They might have one or two pts to put on but they are still responsible for all the meds, the assessments, etc.