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

[ashleyisawesome]

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?

[ashleyisawesome, BSN, RN]

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.

awesome! sounds like just what im looking for! thanks a lot everyone! now, to look around at hospitals in my area and see if they have something like this.. although it sounds pretty in depth, i think i shall do my time in med surg before undertaking such a journey!