Medical Renal Unit

[candygirlshar]

Hello All, Can anyone here give me an idea of what to expect working in a hospital on the Medical Renal Unit? I will be starting next week and I just wanted to get an idea of what it's like and what to expect. :)

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

one of my first nursing jobs as an rn was working on a medical renal unit. we had patients who had kidney diseases and problems with their fistulas or peritoneal catheters for dialysis. you'll see people with pyelonephritis, nephrotic syndrome, hypertension due to renal disease, the peritoneal dialysis patients and people getting hemodialysis dialysis through catheters and waiting to have permanent fistulas done. if a peritoneal dialysis patient got peritonitis, we got them. there is more than one kind of kidney failure. if you aren't clear on the physiology of the kidney and chronic kidney failure you need to start reviewing it. i found a nice little book (this was years ago) on renal nursing that was very helpful. you will be living, eating and sleeping with this stuff for the next few months while you are learning to master it. a couple of links you might find helpful to start you off:

• http://www.kidneyschool.org/splash/toc.shtml -- kidney school
  
• http://www.renalinfo.com/us/

[tnbutterfly - Mary, BSN]

I agree...the Kidney School link is fantastic, Daytonite!

I used that site quite a bit for my dad.