Is there such a thing as a "renal specific unit"?

[ashleyisawesome, BSN, RN]

Sorry if it's a silly question, but I've been getting really interested in renal disorders lately and thought it would be cool to work on some kind of renal specific unit someday.. is there such a thing, or do people with renal problems generally go to a general med surg floor, or medical icu depending on their acuity? I havent heard of one per se, but thought maybe some hospitals have them?

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

My fundamentals class was on a renal unit. They had other patients as well, but all renal patients were sent there...mid-sized town (150,000), so not a huge city. I hated it. :) You could consider free-standing dialysis centers ???

[Orange Tree]

We have a renal unit. We also have a dialysis unit. One of my clinical sites was a kidney transplant unit. So, yes, they do exist :)

[Sun0408, ASN, RN]

Yes, I spent the first year after graduating on a renal floor.. It is not for everyone and 98% of them were on HD or PD..

[roma4204, BSN, RN]

yes :) I work on one

[RNperdiem, RN]

Dialysis too.

[SweetseRN]

Yeah, I love Kidneys too! Dialysis is one of my top three choices after I do a few years of Med-Surge.

[RN58186]

Yep! I started working Nephrology right after graduation and have never left. I work in the Transplant Clinic now, but still renal. The thing about renal is most people fine that they either love it or hate it, no middle ground. I love it and have never regretted my choice. The unit I worked on was one where no matter why they were in the hospital, they were on that unit. We covered almost every base of med/surg and then some. I had an instructor tell me that if you can work renal you can work anywhere. She was right!

[loveu123]

some hospitals do have a renal unit. I work at a big teaching hospital in DC on a renal dialysis unit. Every nurse on my unit has to be able to perform dialysis treatment and know telemetry as well. we do total care in my unit. We give a lot of pain meds, lab drwas, antibiotics, binders, bp meds, other routine meds and a lot of blood transfusions. ( I transfused 7 units of PRBcs today between 3 pts. lol). Renal unit will also give you a lot of experience with diabetes, insulin and hypo or hyperglycemic protocols because we get a lot of diabetics. We get all kinds of stuff. We still get the experience you will get on a regular floor. We do tube feedings, trach, take off orders, head to toe assessments. We also go to ICUs to do treatments. ICU treatments are easier if the patient is stable because they still have their nurse to do other stuff for them. We get two patients at a time on the unit and 1:1 for ICUs and other isolation patients. We also get a lot of transplant pts because they do most transplants in the state at this hospital. My unit is very busy and we do a lot of standing. However, I love my unit because I get to use my critical thinking skills and we don't have to deal with the same patient for the whole shift. Working with renal pts also teaches you a lot about cardiac because a lot of them have cardiac problems. I will advise you to get some experience on the floor before starting on a renal unit if you decide to go with a unit like mine. Good luck and I hope you find a unit you love just like i did.

[Pneumothorax, BSN, RN]

yup we've got a renal unit at our hospital

[K+MgSO4, BSN]

renal endo ward in the hospital where I work. They take the renal pts and those that are on dialysis but need surgery for another probelm e.g thyrodiectomy revision of a fistula. major hospital referral centre though

[Lennonninja, MSN, APRN, NP]

Yep, I work on one. HD and PD patients have top priority for my floor, and if one is in the ED and we're full, we will move a non dialysis pt out to take the new admit. The actual in house dialysis unit is right around the corner from my unit. We don't do the HD, but we can monitor PD in the room once the dialysis nurse initiates it.