[kmcourt66]

Hi everyone...I am a new RN and I just finished my first week of orientation/ training with many more to come as a dialysis nurse. The unit I am working on is awesome. We are part of a hospital and we have about 125 chronic hemodialysis patients, and a full nephrology clinic. I was the medical assistant in the clinic for almost 13 years and then recently finished my schooling for RN and now am staying on to be a dialysis nurse. Its awesome. Now I care again for my patients who had been my clinic patients for years before they started dialysis. So I feel i've come full circle. I know the care and treatment of trying to keep my clinic patients off dialysis for as long as possible so know I am learning how to keep them healthy and free of sickness on the hemodialysis side. I will have 6 - 7 weeks of training then out on my own!! The scariest part for me was the machine..but after only one week I am feeling more comfortable and the nurses I am working with reassure me that I wont feel comfortable until at least a year. That makes me feel better.
If anyone has words of wisdom to share I would love to hear it...or tricks of the trade secrets!

Thanks for listening!!
-Kelley

[DeLana_RN]

Welcome to dialysis (and to nursing)! Although I don't normally recommend such a specialized field for a new grad, it sounds like you are in an excellent, supportive setting. Hospital-based dialysis is always good (after you learn chronic HD, you can also do acutes). In fact, I'm amazed that there are still chronic units associated with hospitals (and not only the large dialysis companies, such as DaVita and Fresenius).

Yes, the machine - I thought I would never get the hang of it, but I did (and eventually became quite familiar with even unusual alarms, etc.) The other big problem I had as a new dialysis nurse was cannulation - but this may come easy to you, and eventually I also "got it". So don't be discouraged, a lot of the skills just take practice, practice, practice.

It will probably be at least a year before you feel fairly competent in this field - to be honest, some patient situations occur only rarely and it may therefore take longer to have been exposed to them/feel comfortable handling them. Codes are one example (I had only one, after 4 years, when I worked in an outpatient clinic).

Best of luck to you, and feel free to ask us questions anytime!

DeLana

[kmcourt66]

Thanks DeLana...I will definately keep you in mind over the next weeks if I come across issues that I am sure will arise as time goes on. There is so much to renal/hemo dialysis.

My unit has never hired a new RN grad. They want you to have 4 yrs of med-surg at least but my director and my doctors felt I had some good preparation being that I have worked there for the last 13 years gaining knowledge from them as a medical assistant. So we will see if they were right if I can handle it!! Luckily for me my doctors are just awesome. I was very well prepared when I entered nursing school because of them and their constant teaching. I ask so many questions! It's the only way to learn and I am very nosey so if something unique was going on with one of my patients i'd be right there asking for the details and the rational behind their treatment. Cool stuff to learn in the renal world.

-Kelley

[DeLana_RN]

4 years of med/surg seems a bit much... usually they're happy with one (which I had, although I later wished I had had more ). Anyway, it does sound like you are well prepared for a career as a dialysis nurse - supportive, understanding nephrologists are a great plus for you. Also, they know your background and know that they can't except you to know certain things (which you would have learned in med/surg) yet; but it will come.

My hospital acute unit (they once had a chronic unit years ago, but that was bought by a large national company) took a chance on a new grad 7 years ago, and she's one of the best nurses they have! So don't let that hold you back or even question your ability to become a competent dialysis nurse. Also, you're "mature", which also helps a lot (so was she, 40 when she started).

I do hope that you also have good fellow RNs and other staff; don't hesitate to ask any and all questions you have! Especially as a new grad, you may have questions about assessment findings; ask them to double check those adventitious lung sounds if you're not sure! You should have a preceptor/mentor, who should be available to you even beyond your initial training period. Believe me, you will still be very green at that time (and they know it), but it will all fall into place.

Again, all the very best,

DeLana

[newbiern2000]

wow... congratulations i would also love to be a dialysis nurse and i just passed my nclex-rn..i hope a hospital would also train me and accept me as a dialysis nurse even if i'm just a fresh grad and new nclex-rn passer.. are there?? or should i have a med/surg/ward nursing experience first?? Goodluck to all of us..

[DeLana_RN]

Some outpatient dialysis companies do hire new grads, and so do some hospital dialysis units. Personally, I think you would do better to get some general nursing experience first (e.g., med/surg), especially if you will be working in a clinic (outpatient); this would also give you more options if you later decide that dialysis isn't where you want to remain.

Best of luck to you!

DeLana

[newbiern2000]

yeah i think i need some experience on general nursing first.. thank you for replying..:-)

[quackmoonstar]

Yeah. Some outpatient dialysis clinics in my country also hire fresh grads. The institution where I'll be working hired me after training with
them for 5 weeks. We start off as orientees with no compensation.

For fresh grads it might be a disadvantage to have no previous clinical experience, but we could always compensate by reading and researching *i guess*.

[Animaniacs]

Sweet, good to hear that you're loving dialysis. I want to get into dialysis nursing myself. I have almost 18 months of med-surg experience. But med-sgur its just so stressful especially when I get 12 patients during the shift, and a couple of those patients are going haywire, while trying to catch up with my paperwork.