Fresenius called me today...

[westieluv]

and it was quite out of the blue. I had applied for a position with them several months ago, but there was a lot of travel involved and on-call hours on top of the full-time hours so I turned down an interview.

Today my phone rang and it was Fresenius wanting to know if I am interested in an inpatient RN position where I would be working in two different hospitals' inpatient dialysis units for Fresenius. It would only be three days a week. I am currently a Med/Surg Tele nurse of 23 years who works on a contingent basis in an internal RN float pool of a large healthcare company but needs to find benefits very soon due to my husband's new employer only covering him and not me or our two kids.

In one way, I am intrigued and flattered that they found me and want me for this position. OTOH, I am nervous that my years of Med/Surg and Cardiac Intermediate nursing will not have prepared me to be a dialysis nurse because I have never worked critical care, although I do have my ACLS certification.

Questions:

How is Fresenius to work for? Has anyone here done this type of dialysis nursing for an outside company within a hospital setting, and if so, how was it?

Is it hard to learn dialysis nursing? It seems so complicated to me, but I know that all of you had to go through that learning curve at some point. Do you think Med/Surg and Cardiac Intermediate will be an adequate background for learning to be a dialysis nurse?

Lastly, can you list some of the pros and cons of being a dialysis nurse, and more specifically, an inpatient dialysis nurse?

Thanks!

[westieluv]

Renal patients are a very unique population too, and there is so much that goes on with them that goes beyond just the basic renal failure/need for dialysis. I've taken care of a lot of them over the years and depression seems to be a big issue, as anyone would expect, since the life of a chronic dialysis patient isn't much fun. I have also cared for chronic renal patients who have related stories of job loss because they had to miss work to go to dialysis, divorce because their spouse couldn't handle the dialysis lifestyle changes, and just generally feeling crappy much of the time. What I'm trying to say is that I think that a dialysis nurse has to be so much more than just a nurse performing a function. These are real, sometimes angry, often times emotionally hurting people, and it takes a lot out of you to deal with all of the facets of their diagnoses on a day to day basis.

[NurseRies, BSN, RN]

Yes thanks ! That's very true. One of my favorite parts of my job is education. I meet dialysis patients that have been doing treatments 5 years, and when I explain some diet concerns or teach them about phosphorus, it is sometimes brand new material. Some people take an active role in their health and they want to know! But with my renal background, I feel I can teach them more detailed info. It's very rewarding in that sense.

One of my favorite things to teach is no orange juice .. EVER! I often have to send a nurse or an aide away when they bring it for low blood sugar. That drink is loaded with enough potassium to make their serum potassium a 6! Then bam, stat dialysis! Orange juice is a huge no for renal patients. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten called in for potassium 6+ or even 7 on a patient that has been in the hospital for days. There's really no reason for an ESRD patient to have that kind of potassium other then diet. It may not be anyone's fault, maybe the grandson brought in a banana (or 3) and the patient didnt know better. Or maybe the nurse gave the patient orange juice 3 times yesterday for hypoglycemia. Seen them both happen! But hey, it's an honest mistake. I don't claim to know much about cardiac patients.. Just a different

world!