Just joined

[DialysisNurseDA]

Hello

My name is Darcy. I am RN certified in Medical Surgical Nursing cardiac telemetry. I am looking to change my career in nursing to dialysis. I just inquired for a position on the off shift 10:30am to 8:30pm. I knowa little about dialysis, in my career I have taken care of renal patients both in LTC and hospital.

I took a $9.00 pay cut as well, going from 29hr to 20-21hr, but there are good benefits and it is closer to my home. I always wanted to do dialysis, but was not going to get up at 4am and work 5:30am to 3pm. I am not an early bird. I can do 10:30a better.

When I saw the opportunity advertised for off shift I jumped on it. Of course I was floored by the pay scale. All the responsibility nurses have and some of us have BS a 4 year college degree and we are subject to wages like this. I am 39 years old and I just read in the paper where the IRS is training people in a new training program. The pay scale is between $17-20 an hour high school diploma required, so a nurse with a four year college degree making 20-21hr in dialysis what a person with no degree can make in this IRS program. Now, I realize it may not be like that with all jobs that do not require a degree, but I have seen CNA's make $11hr, and LPN's make $2 dollars less than RN's and we work three time as hard. I feel like I can say this because I started on the bottom, CNA, LPN and RN. I know exactly what goes on. I have no clue what Patient Care techs make that would be interesting to me.

I was the Unit Team Leader on a busy MS acute medicine (and every one was sick, very sick)unit 40 beds and 8 telemetry. As RN I did everything including patient care. I worked for the government Veteran's hospital. LPN's could not do IV punctures, admissions or discharges, so we had that with everything else. Well, some days I felt like I was the one doing all the work. It was not their fault it was the system.

However, I am trying not to let the pay scale in dialysis influence me otherwise. I really want this training and opportunity to work in dialysis. I walked through the unit the other day and was quiet impressed. I see the dialysis RN has much responsiblity.

I bought a book on amazon.com called "Dialysis Therapy" hope it comes before I start my position. I really would like to read some before launching into a new relm of nursing, but oh well, there training program is 3 months long so they say. We will see. I should get pretty much familiar with the system if it is three months long.

If anyone can share materials online, educational sources or any of their knowledge please email at [e-mail]

Thanks for listening!

Darcy

[babs_rn]

Welcome, Darcy! And yes, dialysis pay is not particularly competitive but it does have its rewards as long as you're not in a really big center that has an "assembly line" mindset. I had a 10-week orientation to include two weeks classroom theory training (I'm with Davita) and it was great. As with everything else in nursing, however, I wouldn't bank on not getting scheduled to come in early if they're short. Takes some getting used to, but I wouldn't want to do anything else now. I have a relationship with the patients in my center (we're a small, intimate center, only 22 pts and open MWF only) and the whole place is a family. I realized just the other day that it's been about a year and a half since I had to watch someone die....that's good for the morale. Having to deal with death on a constant basis does tend to bring a person down. It's also very fulfilling to me to know that these people couldn't live without what I'm providing for them. Yes, the RN has a lot of responsibility - dialysis is HIGHLY regulated - and it's not for everyone and it is hard work...but it's a wonderful job. Good luck!

barb

[jnette, ASN, EMT-I]

Hello Darcy ! And welcome to the BB !

Will have to ditto most of what Babs has said above.. stay away from the LARGE clinics!

Mine, too is "small".. a total of 28-30 pts. We used to do three days a week (12 hours/two shifts) but for the past 2 years have gone to 6 days a week with Tues./ Thurs./ Sat. being the "short days".. just one shift. Out of those 6 days, we work four.

Wherever you are, your pay is way higher than ours.. an RN in dialysis here STARTS at only $16-17.00/hr. Of course, with time, that goes up... but much of it is geographical.

Allow me to direct you to a wonderful renal/nephrology/dialysis site http://www.hdcn.com

I think you'll love it. VERY informative.

Wish you the best ! :)

We may not witness death on a dailey/weekly or even monthly basis... but when we DO lose them, it is very painful as you have gotten to really know these patients, their families, their lives... for years on end.. then suddenly they're gone. Or you may have to watch the inevitable deteriorating of their condition.

I always have to remind myself it is not a cure... but a prolonging of life. And that I have been blessed and privileged to have made these special aquaintances.

[RN-NY]

I too am a new dialysis nurse and am slowly learning, but both babs_rn and jnette are expressing what I too have noticed in my short exposure. I do agree that it is alot better to be in smaller unit (at least till one learns more!).

I also wanted to direct you to a site called kidneyschool.com that allows you to learn from the patients' perspective. A patient of ours pointed me to it and it was helpful in addition to these sites ikidney.com and hdcn.com.

Although, I had some training it was not as structured as I'd have liked it to be and that is why I too am trying to gather as much info as I can and in the process am having a lot of fun! All of a sudden I feel rejuvenated again as a nurse!

All the best to you!