Chronic Dialysis unit to Acute Dialysis?

[mswim]

Last year after being burned out on a med-surg floor I decided to take a job in chronic dialysis clinic. It was good decision. Even though chronic dialysis is far from perfect...It was better than my med-surg job. (They actually closed my floor 2 wks after me leaving.) I actually like dialysis. :) I have enjoyed working with the machines & patients most of the time. My problem is lately they are now cutting staff & hours. I have not even been making 32 hrs a week most weeks, and our patient load has not changed, just the amount of staff...so I started casually looking around & applied for Acute dialysis job at another hospital. I have talked to some others that say the workload is much more doable, call is always a struggle. I did ask how many nurses are on staff and there are currently 8 which means we have every 4th weekend on call. Does anybody have any advice? Would this be a good move? What are the differences b/t acute vs. chronic? People have told me after doing chronic acutes will seem easier. It seems I will get more training ACLS, telemetry with acutes which will help my skill set. Is being on call really that bad or does it depend on where you work? Thank you for the info if you respond!

[merlee]

On call will truly depend on where you are working, and how the docs call the shots. I loved acute - somewhat autonomous, you are 'in charge' of each treatment within parameters.

Also depends on the type of hospital or practice the docs have. I worked at a variety of very different facilities, all teaching hospitals with agressive docs who depended on us to know our stuff. One place did everything - including peds, every type of ICU and transplant that you can imagine. We were busy, and when we were on call we assumed we'd be in. Other places, not so much.

Sometimes you know you'll be in - someone who needs 5-7 treatments/week, or consecutive days.

I loved it - every minute.

Best wishes!!!!

[David13, MSN, RN]

Be very careful before accepting a position with on-call obligations. A great deal will depend upon the doctors and the protocols that are in place.

An on-call position certainly has the potential for abuse. One of the most egregious example of abuse of on-call staff is, in my opinion, being called in consistently at all hours of the night for nonsense that could easily wait until the next day just to cover the physician's you-know-what.

Just my $0.02. Best of luck with your decision.