ARNP08

Thanks for checking in on me. It is getting a bit easier, I am learning more each day and my textbooks are my new best friend. Last week the MD I work for apologized for not giving me a good orientation and said that she was happy to have me but was just so behind in her clinic that it's hard for her to take the extra time to teach me things they way she wants to. It felt good to be validated and to know that she realized what was going on BUT at the same time...it still does not help me much...I am just taking it one day at a time and asking questions when I need to. Hopefully, next week will be better.....who knows On a more positive note, I love the patient population that I am working with. They all keep telling me how happy they are to see me every week, because they rarely seen the MD and when they did she was so rushed....so it feels good to hear that over and over again:D. The dialysis nurses are great as well. We are both learning a lot from eachother!!!!!!!

I am a new graduate on the west coast and salaries vary depending on your specialty and location. Two of my classmates work with under-served communities and both of their starting salaries were 64,500. I am a new-grad ARNP in Nephrology and my starting salary was 89,000/year...so it really depends .

Thanks so much for all of the responses, they were all very helpful. Aymara I have the text you recommended and will review that some more (I'am about 3/4ths of the way through it). CrzyNP (love the name btw), thanks for the text book recommendation as well. Valerie-Salva you are so right about what you said. I have learned so much by working with the experienced dialysis nurses. They have been more than helpful and are always willing to answer any questions. Thanks again everyone . I am definitely feeling a little more confident in my new role as an Nephrology ARNP...

Thank you for for the resources, I will be sure to look them over. I live on the Westcoast. I'am going to give it one more month before I start looking for another job. Either way, I will let you now how it turns out because I really do love working with patients that have renal disease. I just want to know that I am providing the best care possible and right now, it doesn't feel like that because the team work is so poor... Thanks for all your help...hopefully the outcome will be good

Thanks for responding so quickly. 4 months orientation sounds great!!! I would've appreciated 4 days of orientation compared to what I've received...LOL...I've been using Epocrates, however, I dont have a renal dosing PDA program (where did you get that program from?). The books I've been using are the Handbook of Dialysis by Daugardis and The Current Diagnosis and Treatment of Nephrology and HTN which is one of the Lange medical books and the main author is Edgar Lerma. The dialysis book I have is 600 pages and I just need something that is simple and gets right to the point. Because there are still some parts that are unclear to me or that I would like to understand more. About my job...I round on 60 hemodialysis patients Mon-Wednesday (4 centers total), see patients thursday and friday in clinic. No weekend call or hospital call. We dont use Fresenius units (not familiar with this). Having received an improper orientation and working with providers that are so busy and unwilling to explain reasons for doing certain things I just feel like I am missing something all the time....My experience is as an ICU nurse as well.... What did your orientation consists of? Do you have any material left over from your orienation that could be sent to me electronically? Thanks

I'am a new graduate ARNP and have recently starting working as a Nephrology ARNP. I round on patients who are getting dialysis and I also see patients in clinic. During my interview I told the providers that I didn't have Nephrology experience and they agreed to train me for one month. However, when I started I got one day of orientation at the dialysis center and no orientation at the clinic before I was seeing patients alone. It was kinda like a sink or swim...The other providers are there to answer questions when i need to but it just doesn't seem right to throw a new graduate in such a situation...Over the last month I've just been teacing myself about dialysis and the care of patients with CKD...So its going ok it would just be nice to be in a more supportive environment. Any other Nephrology ARNPs out there who can offer advice on how to make the most out of this horrible situation....Any specific text books that you would recommend. I am specifically looking for a dialysis handbook that is simple and a quick read. Thanks, Miserable ARNP