Published Sep 15, 2013
TheSuperNurse
2 Posts
Hello AllNurses,
I was accepted as a new hire at Fresenius about 2 weeks ago and will start training tomorrow morning. Can anyone give me insight on what the training will be like? Was told it would be about 5 weeks until I can actually work in the actual clinic as a staff nurse.
Thanks,
Joe
Staragate, ADN, ASN, RN
380 Posts
I've been hired as a new grad, but I get a 10 week orientation. They are training me as a tech and then learn the RN part of it. I love it so far. Classroom training with clinical days, like in nursing school. I'm 4 weeks in now. Be prepared for lots of safety videos and power points. .
i'm noticing that the majority of the staff have been there a long time. This bodes well, but it does vary by clinic.
wordsmith
35 Posts
I just got hired by Fresenius. I've been working for Davita and can't believe how much better Fresenius pays. To be fair, I'm moving from one area where there's little competition to an area where there's more competition, but the increase in pay was remarkable. The background check was done and i'm waiting to get the drug screen done. I'm excited to go to work for a company with decent pay and benefits. Managers set the tone for the clinic, and I'm leaving an incompetent manager for one who seems to know what she's doing. Keeping my fingers crossed.
schnookimz
983 Posts
How much better is the pay? Davita in my area pays about 2 dollars more than you'd ever get as a floor nurse.
Over $5/hr. I was amazed at the increase. They took into account my total years of nursing, not just dialysis experience.
Nice!!!!!! Good luck with the new job!!!
hawaiisunshine
Help! Can a single mom work as a dialysis nurse?
the hours are 4:30am-1pm or 1-9pm
Im a single mom of a 9yr old
I really want to learn this skill and do the job but notsure if its
manageable with my child.
westieluv
948 Posts
Do you mean that those are the only hours that you would be available to work?
I can only speak for my area, although I think that it is much the same in most places, but if you work in a chronic outpatient clinic, you work early morning until early evening. There are normally 2-3 shifts of patients. The first batch come in early, as in 5-6 AM, and leave after their treatments, which are normally around 4 hours long. The second shift of patients come in around 11 AM and come off at 3-4 PM. Some clinics have a third shift that runs into early evening, depending on how big the clinic is and how many patients they service. You need to talk to someone at an outpatient clinic in your area to see how flexible they would be willing to be with your hours, but in the clinics in our area, the nurses work from start of the day to finish, so your hours wouldn't work.
If you want to do acute dialysis nursing in the hospital setting, then basically forget about having any set hours. This is what I do, and I have quickly learned that you cannot plan anything on days that you are scheduled to work, because each day is different based on how many patients you have to run. Patients get admitted 24 hours a day, so you may think your day is done only to find out that there is a renal patient in the ER whose potassium level is 7.5 because they skipped their outpatient dialysis treatment the day before and you will be staying and running that patient, it's just the nature of the job. Each treatment is a minimum of 2 hours, so there are days when you don't see the light of day. For example, I worked 17 hours this past Thursday between two hospitals. Just going home because you are tired or want to see your kids is not an option, you stay until the treatments are done. It works for me because I have an understanding husband and our kids are young adults, but if we had young kids, I could/would never do this job. Also in acutes, you have to take after hours call. Our call is 6 PM-6 AM a couple of times a week. You may not get called, but if you do you have to go run a treatment in the middle of the night. It's more than a job, really, it's a lifestyle change.
DialysisRN12
63 Posts
@westieluv The hours OP mentioned are normal clinic shift hours for some dialysis clinics. Not all clinics do 12 hrs or open to close. Some only do 8 hrs. And those are typical 8 hr shift hours, not the OP's available hours.
Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com
jdethman
66 Posts
Fresenius training is very well done. If you want to get a lot out of it you will. If you don't like your preceptor say something early.