PCT'S training nurses?

No you should be receiving your training under a licensed nurse. When I was new to dialysis I learned stringing machines, chlorine checks, and trouble shooting machine alarms by experienced tech(s) but overall my experience was with a LPN. Does your facility not have any experienced nurses there? If they don't can't you orient at another location other than your primary clinic?

I was trained by my PCT for 5 weeks and I learned alot from her as I had no previous experience with dialysis. I learned the in's and out's of the machine, the patients, and when it was time for me to train with my nurse I felt completely confident. In an emergency situation when all the PCTs were busy I felt fine fixing the machine without any help and the nurse who was training me said she was glad I took care of it bc she wouldn't have known what to do bc she only trained w/ a PCT for a week. When its approprite I don't have a problem being taught by someone w/ less education than me and I still trained w/ my nurse for nursing situations and learned the nursing routine though her.

Many chronic nurses barley touch the machine after training, you want a PCT to train you to use it. It really depends on your unit but I learned a lot about cannulation from PCT’s over the years. Some PCTs have been setting up machines, cannulating patients, and caring about the safety of their patients for 10 years plus. It is really a shame they don’t have a nursing education (I don’t mean the license, I mean the education) to back up their technical expertise. Now if your PCT trainer is an idot, or hates new nurses ask to switch trainers. Make no mistake they are working under a License it’s yours.

at the clinic where i work, new nurses train under a PCT for 6 weeks to learn the technical part of the job, then train with a nurse for 2 weeks for the nursing aspect of the job. i think this is a pretty well balanced training, & would rather leart the tech portion from a tech who does it every day.

I work at an outpatient clinic and generally new RN's orient with an RN for a week or so, then with a PCT mentor for 2-3 weeks, then with a RN mentor for about a month. Also, during orientation, they work 5- 8hour shifts instead of the 3-12's.

Hi! I would like to ask about your location? Nurses who want go for dialysis, sometimes get trained by the company they work for. Dialysis tech's are licensed, they need to pass the State Exam for dialysis techs to work in a dialysis center.

If you need more information please PM me. I will able to help you with some information.

In Ohio Daialysis Techs have their own license issued through the Board of Nursing and are required to pass a National Exam. I went through a 600+ Dialysis Technician course through a local Vocational School and if I am hired through one of the two larger companies, I will be required to go through their training program.

When I started in dialysis, I trained with a PCT to learn about the machines, cannulation, how to troubleshoot the machine when alarms go off. I learned alot from the PCT's I worked with then, and still go to the experienced PCT's if I need to. They are working with patient accesses & machines every day & can show you pretty much anything you need to know.

The worst thing you can do is to feel like you should not be learning from a PCT because they are not nurses. When your PCT's figure out that this is how you feel, they will be less willing to help you when you have a problem.

Unfortunately, speed is a factor in dialysis & it is related to productivity which management pushes ALOT. It is all about keeping labor hours & costs down. The more patient treatments that are done each day with the least amount of labor hours is even more of a factor now because Medicare has tightened reimbursements alot.

Hi! I would like to ask about your location? Nurses who want go for dialysis, sometimes get trained by the company they work for. Dialysis tech's are licensed, they need to pass the State Exam for dialysis techs to work in a dialysis center.

If you need more information please PM me. I will able to help you with some information.

Hello could you please contact me via email ([email protected]) I would like to get some info about working at a dialysis clinic. Thank you...

I'm in the eighth week of a hideous training experience with a preceptor who wouldn't offer a positive word if you saved her life and I think I would have been better served if I had spent the first few weeks with a PCT just to learn the machines. I KNOW nursing, I've been one for years so spending valuable training time doling out the epogen, hectorol and veno-fer when I could actually be learning more about the actual dialysis process would have been so much more valuable.

The other thing I don't like is this mania for "speed", going faster, faster etc...

Hey, my mantra has always been, do you want it right or do you want it right now?

Hey! Please let me know what kind of information you need. Or you could just email me on [email protected]

I was a new grad nurse hired at an out-patient dialysis clinic and did 8months on the clinic floor as a PCT. The normal training time was 4months but because we were so short staffed I continued to work as a PCT. At the time I just wanted to get into the nursing side of things but looking back, the time on the floor was invaluable in learning the machine, the patients, and managing the emergancies and complications that come throughout the day.

I personally find it hard to believe that nurses should verify everything the PCT has set up on the machine and patient if they haven't done it and mastered it themselves. Nurses should be trained by qualified PCT's in my opinion to learn what they go through on the floor each and every day so that they understand what they need to do as nurses to help the PCT's and to gain the PCT's trust as their nurse.

It is hard as a new nurse to gain the trust of a 5, 10, or 15 year veteral PCT on the floor. You do that by going through their training and being humble and not letting the title of nurse go to your head and thinking that your better than them.

If you have a bad trainer then you have a bad trainer. Learning from anyone bad is not going to get you anywhere. I had great trainers and I have great PCT's who may be a little burnt out on their job but they still perform above and beyond what I believe is required.

I don't have that long in the dialysis field but I do know that if you don't respect what your PCT's bring to the table in the form of care, and if they don't respect you, then it's bad for the patient and bad for the reputation of your entire clinic. It's not an individual that gets the bad wrap, it's the entire facility, that's why teamwork is a must from the PCT, to the nurse, to the dietician, to the social worker.

If it's broken, then find a way to fix it.

"Whether you think you can, or think you can't......you're right" Henry Ford