First Nursing Job Dialysis Am I Stuck Forever

Specialties Urology

Published

I am A new graduate who graduated in May of 2018. I was licensed by June 15, 2018 and I was offered a job to start in July 16th, 2018 at an outpatient dialysis center. It was my only job offer at the time so I decided to take it because I was not getting any hospital offers at the time. This job was also non contract so I thought I can take the job while working on my BSN and applying for different jobs and going on other interviews. I felt that any experience beats having no experience. I could start building a resume. The problem is that a lot of people, and even some Nursing Professors warned me and told me not to take a dialysis job because if I did then I would be doomed that no hospitals will ever want to hire me in the future. I feel that it is better to get any type of RN experience rather than sit around for months waiting for my Ideal job. I decided to give dialysis a chance and I needed to start working. I did not want to blow through savings waiting for my dream job. My other problem is that I am not into dialysis at all. I realize that I have not been working there for a very long time but believe me when I tell you that I have seen enough where I know that this specialty is not for me. While I am still learning and getting experience, I find hemodialysis to be very repetitive and I feel like I am not using a lot of med surg skills learned in school. I am not ready for something this specialized this early on in my career. I strongly prefer to see more of a variety of patients in a hospital/acute setting. Also starting at 5AM and not getting out until 9 o'clock at night is killing me. I realize that most Nursing jobs are long hours But the 16+ hour shifts are starting to getting in the way with my BSN studies.

Is this just a myth that once someone works in dialysis that they are stuck in it for their entire career? I don't believe that this myth is true because when I started working at my dialysis center, a nurse that had been working there for close to a year and had been offered a hospital position and resigned. I feel there is hope that I will get in a hospital in time but then again, her hospital offer was kidney related. She was offered a medsurg position for pre and post op on a kidney transplant unit. As grateful as I am to have a job and be working as an RN, I still feel terrified that I am going to restrict my career options. I know that things could be worse and I could have no job as many people that I graduated with back in May are still not working. Truthfully it is the same people without jobs who have never worked as an RN who I went to school with who are putting these ideas into my head. These are the people who would rather let months go by without a job or experience. They feel that it is better for them to work on their BSN's and then after that apply for their ideal job. They complain about being licensed and unemployed yet they are super picky about where they want to work. Hopefully those in this speciality or who previously worked in this specialty can give me better advice.

Specializes in Acute Dialysis.
2 minutes ago, Natkat said:

I am not sure what it is that is hard to understand, but let me try again. I'll try and trim some of what I wrote before.

My first job after nursing school was in dialysis. About a year after graduation I began looking for other jobs and got nothing. 11 years later I am still in dialysis and still no one will hire me. In those years I have gotten a BSN and MSN and that has not helped at all. I still cannot get another job. I have applied everywhere - outpatient clinics, radiology, med-surg, doctors offices, infusion centers, nurse navigator, case management to name a few. No luck. If I get a response it's always the same - I don't have enough experience.

I want to get out of dialysis and get some other experience, but since no one will hire me I can't get any other experience.

You have a masters? In what? Do you have your NP? And you can't get hired? Even as a med surge floor nurse? That's really odd. Sounds like you need to move. Have you tried monster.com? Local prisons? It might just be your area. Or your expected salary or something. Something is really amiss about your situation. If you get your NP, that's a guarantee since it doesn't really require experience. Your clinicals are your NP experience.

1 Votes
Specializes in Corrections, neurology, dialysis.

Believe me, I have searched my soul and wish I knew what is going on.

I do not have an NP degree. My degree is in management and leadership. Wish I had gone the NP route, but hindsight is 20/20. Anyway, since I have no experience in any other specialty besides dialysis, no one will hire me to be a manager in anything else - which logically makes sense.

It could be the area I live in. I have had others tell me that the market in my area is saturated with nurses and the competition is tough - I live in Houston. Actually I did work for a time as a research nurse at MD Anderson, but the commute was 4 hours a day - 2 hours one way - and was not sustainable. I gave it up after a year, and after I resigned, I think I slept practically around the clock for two weeks. I could have moved but housing inside the loop is a million plus for a mid century home in need of numerous upgrades.

I actually would like to get into something that would be more like auditing or billing. I realize now I should have gotten a degree in healthcare administration, because that is what holds my interest more than anything. But again, hindsight is 20/20. I like working with data more than people, but I don't know how to turn that into a career.

I googled myself to see if anything negative showed up, and it all looks wholesome enough. I scrubbed my Facebook page of photos and posts that might come across as negative. So who knows?

Specializes in Dialysis.
On 6/4/2019 at 10:28 AM, Natkat said:

I am not sure what it is that is hard to understand, but let me try again. I'll try and trim some of what I wrote before.

My first job after nursing school was in dialysis. About a year after graduation I began looking for other jobs and got nothing. 11 years later I am still in dialysis and still no one will hire me. In those years I have gotten a BSN and MSN and that has not helped at all. I still cannot get another job. I have applied everywhere - outpatient clinics, radiology, med-surg, doctors offices, infusion centers, nurse navigator, case management to name a few. No luck. If I get a response it's always the same - I don't have enough experience.

I want to get out of dialysis and get some other experience, but since no one will hire me I can't get any other experience.

Not you that I can't understand

The below is what I don't understand...this jumbled up comment has appreared in a couple of places. I realize that the person is not an English as first language speaker. Sorry for the confusion

May 14 by AnkitSharma52

32 Visitors; 4 Posts

One my doubt differences in bachleors in dailysis therapy what will it job in abroad country like Canada a dailysis techinan or dailysis nurse because both are same in bachleors degrees i request to you tell me answer

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