Dialysis RN

Rocknurse, MSN, APRN, NP · Oct 22, 2015

I worked for DaVita for 5 years and all in all it was a great experience. Once you get past the fabricated party atmosphere, it's a great place to work, depending on which facility you're at. The downside are the hours but the plus side is the pay. I liked working 1:1 in the ICU and I was able to use my critical care skills. I ended being a CRRT educator in both of the ICUs at my hospital and it looks great on my resume. I was the clinical coordinator for the last 2 years and there are ample opportunities to climb higher if you show initiative. I'm glad I did it. I recommend shadowing for the day to see if you like it. One nephrologist described dialysis to be like this: 95% boredom, 5% desperation! That's a little exaggerated but it was one of the best jobs I've ever had. Only problem is not really knowing when you're going home. Some days it was 12pm and others it was 10pm. Lots of call in my unit...up to 2 or 3 times a week but some people did less. You have to be independent and reliable to do it and be very precise. I had no dialysis experience when I joined but I had critical care experience. They trained me up from scratch.

SmilingBluEyes · Oct 22, 2015

What the prior poster is describing is in hospital dialysis. Outpatient/clinic dialysis is a bit different in that you know when your day starts and ends as you work usually, 10 or 12 hour shifts.

I would not do inpatient dialysis for that reason because as said, you may work 10 hours or 20. I like knowing I am going home, and not on-call at the end of my busy day. That is probably the best part of outpatient dialysis: NO ON-CALL! I am loving that after nearly 15 years of working units that required me to be on-call often. Like all in-hospital nursing, it's either feast or famine. You are either crazy busy or facing low census and going home for the day.

Also in clinic dialysis, you see the patients 3 days a week and get to know them and their families very well. It's almost like a family, however dysfunctional some can be....

Shadow someone doing hospital and outpatient dialysis and see what you think.