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What state are you in and, if you don't mind, what company are you with? I just had an acutes interview with FMC. The set up is a hospital room with about 8 beds, ratio is 2 patients to one RN. Each RN must float to ICU at least one day a week. Heres the pay at the bottom end of the scale (don't know the top end but from the above post at $29/pt to $34/pt in chronics don't think it would be astronomically different: First patient $120 based on 5 hours, second pt done at the same time add $30= $150 for two, thus 4 a day done this way = $300 based on a 10 hour day. When you float to acutes you only get the $120, so two a day would be $240. Doesn't make sense to me that your dealing with tougher logistics and sicker patients to make less money. So, a 3 day work week, which you'd still have to float would be $820 a week and a 4 day work week would be $1140. I figured it up several different ways against my current rate of pay and if I do my 3 in the chronic now and float to acutes an extra day I'm way ahead of FMC's offer. Even if I just worked straight acutes at my hourly and got the overtime I'm ahead. However, at your $200/pt I couldn't compare, nor does FMC's offer compaare to your wage. So, where do I need to travel to to get this kind of money? Plus benefits!

Thanks for mentioning that rush factor, those were some of my thoughts exactly when I was trying to figure out how any of us could possibly move any faster!

Thanks for the reply Redman. If you would be so kind, let me give you the picture in my clinic and then you tell me what I would make in this system. I'm assuming that on your 2 16's which equal 24 what your saying is that on each of those days the tech takes care of 12 pts (3 shifts) and 12+12 equals 24, plus the 10 hours of 2 shifts with 8 patients equals 32. How many total chairs do you have in your clinic[/]? In our clinic we have 32 total chairs and we do two shifts, so we see 64 patients a day. We are open 6 days a week and we usually work 3 days a week. So, each of my techs see's 8 patients a day X 3 days =24 patients a week. If I understand you correctly when I'm charging I would therefore make 24X29=which would be $696 dollars a week. In my clinic I clock in at 0430 and I am ALWAYS the last to leave at around 1830-1930. When I round with the doctor I see 64 patients that day. However, on TTS, I see those same 64 patients, give meds to 20 patients and since we have 24 catheters I usually put on and take off at least 8 of them. I am blowin' and goin' the entire time at work and most people would say I'm fast and efficient but there is know way with the amount of patient care I do and case management that I could leave any earlier. So, I average about 40 clock hours (after they've taken an hour each day for breaks). So,is this what you are saying: that I would be paid $696 a week, which divided by my 40 hours=$17.40 an hour with no PTO benefits? What a sneaky way for the company to get out of offering vacation pay, which is a monetary value to your yearly earnings. Otherwise, many would be strictly PRN. I am not taking a patient load, however, I often put on and take off more than any single employee in the clinic because I'm in TX too. My nurses are all LVN's and they are generally too busy to do anything more than the computer charges for their patients. I work with a pretty well trained staff and the shortest day any tech or LVN has is 11 hours. I so appreciate the time you've taken to answer this but just want to be sure I'm understanding. Even if I were paid $34 dollars a patient, at 24 patients a week (again 8 a day X 3 days) I would still only be earning $816 a week. I agree $25.42 right out of school is good but I'm thinking they'd have to dream up something different to keep me on at my clinic. Even if I were seeing 32 patients a week at $34 a pop my weekly would still be $1088 divided by 40 = $27.20 with no PTO, less than market value for PRN. One last thought. Now that the corporation has found a way to delete your PTO benefit that means that PRN work in the future will now be paid less, because the whole point of a PRN wage was to offset the approximate 28-32% of dollars a company spends on an employee in benefits packages. It seems to me that for someone new to nursing like you, these wages could be great in the short run, but what it "feels" like is that in the long run you will see less and less money over your career. I hope some others will speak up out there. This new entrepreneurial system has some red lights on it to me for nursing salaries.

I currently work in a chronic hemo unit and have also done acutes. As one who has done it, the hours ARE NOT ALWAYS WONDERFUL. Make sure you ask alot of questions. I worked 16 hour days, many many days in acutes and then took call all night and on week-ends. Although you sometimes get to take care of one patient at a time, some acute settings will have you doing two at once and some acutes are in a clinic within the hospital with several staff members. So get the facts first. My acute experience, more often than not, was often a 24/7 experience. Make sure you get LOTS of training because once your out there, your on your own and the biomed back-up could be an hour away...well frankly, there are just a number of variables that can occur that turn your 6 hour day into a 16. Remember too, that dialysis patients are usually the sickest most fragile patients in the hospital, even the ones in med/surg units are always potentially just one infection away from the ICU or death. Again, GET LOTS OF TRAINING FIRST. Most nurses start in a chronic unit and then later (like a year or more) go to acutes. Good luck. I don't mean to put a damper on your decisions but acutes is not a cake walk by any means. And, there are actually days where you can read a magazine (or so they told me).

Could you elaborate more on this? In our clinic a PCT would take care of approximately 8 patients in about 11 hours. Of course this is because of set up time, shift change, and tear down time. If problems occurred on the floor it could take longer. And, as the charge nurse in a 32 chair clinic I can barely begin my paperwork until the last patient is gone and my average day is 14 hours. If I understand you correctly, this means that if I were paid for 8 patients at $29 a patient I would make $232 a day. For a 10 hour day I would earn $23 an hour. But, for my 14 hour day I would make only $15 an hour. No way!!! Is this what your actually saying? I would like to know because I am interviewing for a Fresenius pay per patient job next week. Thanks in advance for your reply.

Anybody out there doing dialysis (chronic) travel nursing? I am an RN, currently charging in a 32 chair clinic. I need information on companies and pay ranges. I have found Foundation Enterprises and QT Staffing that specialize in Dialysis. Would appreciate info on these two, as well as any other companies that may be worth looking into. I am considering NM, AZ, CA, CT or any good location in the west, N.CA, or North East. I appreciate any and all info. Hope to travel by summer. Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the reply movealong. I just accepted a new position in dialysis but did send the intellicare info to a friend after visiting the web site. She's an addictions specialist and she was interested in the smoking cessation program they have. I hope your location hunt goes well. Magdalena would be too small for you. Silver City is close to the top of my list of NM locations. It's kind of another of the best kept secrets. They have all the great stuff that NM is famous for including the Gila Wilderness in their backyard but none of the hype that can go along with the NE area. Their growing alot but because there's no skiing or reservations there the growth is more laid back than the Taos/Santa Fe area. Thanks again....hope you find paradise in NM.

How small or big of a town are you looking for? Land around the Magdalena, NM area is the best kept secret in NM. Magdalena is on Hwy 60, Central western NM, if you continued west in to AZ you would come in to the Show Low area. We have a gorgeous place there, as pretty as anyplace you will find in NE NM and we border on the national forest. Inredible 100 mile views in one direction and Mountains right up to our back door in the other. It is our retirement place. We also have a cabin off the grid about 40 miles north of there. Don't know what kind of internet service they have but the guy behind us works from home doing something internet. Housing would be very reasonable and choice of land can be semi developed to extremely adventurous. I am interested in your tele nursing. I would leave for NM tomorro if I had that kind of a job. Past ER and Occ Health experience, how would I go about checking in to this? I am quite serious, since I already have a place in NM I would divide my time between there and here in TX. Any info would be greatly appreciated. (I LOVE RURAL NM-lived there 7 years-returning every few months for 20!). Please do post on the tele nursing. Hope this info helps on NM. undefined

I don't remember how long it took, maybe two weeks. In Texas you can do a little trick to find out before it's mailed. You call the BNE and on the phone prompt you enter your SS#. If you get an expiration date you past. If you don't, either you failed, or it's not posted in to the system yet. I had my nurse preceptor call and record the results because I was too nervous.

Just wanted to say congratulations! I remember the feeling well. We were the 2nd class to take the "new" computurized NCLEX and when the computer didn't shut off for me at 75 I just new I would have to answer all 265. Then, all of a sudden it shut down after 90 questions. I went home, called my mom and cried and cried. Said, "I'm never going to do anything that requires a license again". Well, I passed, and my husband graduates from nursing school Dec.5 and so I will do it, by poxy again! Good luck in your nursing career.

Thanks for the replies. I'm still not sure if I'm doing this right. I hope this posts to respond to my question. Guess I will have to push the button to see cause I can't figure out any of these directions.

Hello, This is my first post to any site ever on the web so I hope I get this right!! I appreciate any responses. Any one out there with experience working for the IHS on a Reservation? I am looking at community health positions and am familiar with what it is like to live in the middle of know where. We have a place in NM that is 30 miles off the paved road and off the grid. I would like to hear from anyone who has done this kind of nursing, what to expect, highs and lows, rewards, struggles etc. I believe I am culturally diverse, but I have never submersed myself in another culture. Also, tips on how to GET hired with the IHS, what I need to send with my formal form papers and what I don't. And, any word on advancement. I have been in management for the last 7 years, much of it in ambulatory care and occupational health and the last two years have been outside the medical setting. Thanks, again for responding to my first Post. (I hope this works).