RemoteRN

Are you still in orientation. You should be with an RN at some point and she should instruct you on assessments. I listen to lungs, heart, and look at face for edema, and check ankles for edema. Then I have my spiel Have you had: Chest pain, shortness of breathe, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and or bleeding. That helps to assess dry weight. I.E. No weight on but SOB and edema . But c/o of vomitting or diarrhea then their EDW needs to be lower. They have fluid on. Good luck It's a steep learning curve.

Hemodialysis can be just as high stress as M/S so M/S might just help you get "tuned up" Let's see. High patient ratio's.. 12-1 sometimes 20-1. Negative attitudes.. OMG Being on one's feet for 12-16 hours Maybe you should shadow an RN for a day to see what goes on in a chronic unit. Good luck.. Personally, I've done both. I'll take hemo any day.

Before DaVita bought Gambro and still Davita mostly uses Fresenius machines. I believe the machine you are referring to is the Phoenix machine. A strictly Gambro product.

'As a former M/S nurse I would remind the transfusionist to make sure they have a patent IV before obtaining the blood product. Nothing worse than having to return a blood product to the BB when you can't find a vein. :trout:

The County and CARY??? .. NO they are not in Southern Maine nor are they on the coast.

One of the first "problems" I see is that California will consider you a resident after 9 months. Now the IRS won't consider that California is your new "tax home" until you've been in one general area for a year. Read pub 463 very closely. If your contract is for say 6 months and is likely to be only 6 months but ends up being 13 months you have changed "tax homes" and no longer enjoy many of the benefits of being a traveling nurse. In other words you would have to pay taxes on the value of your housing and you wouldn't be able to get per diems or claim any reimbursements for meals and incidentals. If you stay with the same company and your housing is close enough to the new hospital the company probably won't change your housing. But remember to to ask for more money in your next contract and travel pay after all if you left Cali for another assignment they'd have to pay travel pay to you or if another traveler came to Cali they'd have to pay them. There are alot of "if's" in your dealings with these companies. Remember if it isn't "charted" i.e. written in the contract, it probably won't happen. I have a feeling picking up shifts in the ER as an untrained RN would be difficult. Most ER's have a very detailed training period and I doubt they would want to take you on once or twice a month, or one day a week as an orientee. You might fare better transferring now where you live presently to the ER and getting your 2 years of experience there before you venture out. JMHO.. Good luck

I don't believe it will be anymore of a problem than you've stated so far. The only possible problem I can foresee is that you might have trouble getting a license in some state. If you've always reported it I'd continue to do so and see what happens. There are 50 states and the USVI to work in so you might have to limit yourself on some of them but I don't think so. Good luck.

'The IRS has no 50 mile rule for travelers. It is a requirement to move 50 miles to deduct MOVING expenses not traveling expenses. Many hospitals have instituted a 50 mile rule so all their own staff won't become "travelers" See pub 463 for further information.

So the phelebotomist puts down lido before drawing your blood?

:yeahthat: