ET04

I'm a new grad that went straight into Davita incenter dialysis not because I wanted to but because that was the only job offer I had. Do I like it? Not really, I'm still trying to get my hands on a med-surge experience in the hospital. People think dialysis is easy and all you do is put on patients.. wait 4 hours..put on another set of patients. That's what I thought it would be. But I'm running around the whole day. why am I running? because after I put on my patient I have to prepare and get everything ready for my second patient, and sometimes 4hours is just barely enough to get everything ready when i'm also doing vitals q30 min on 4 some times 8 patients (that is if my bay partner took one of them long ass 1hour break), drawing meds and passing them out, and also attending to patient's complain and machine alarms. Then turn around comes (that's when you take off your first set of patient and hook the second of patient almost the same time) and I basically go crazy. I have to like do 6-7 things the same time, getting pulled in so many different directions . Oh yea, they have me working as a pct but since I'm a nurse they jsut let me do all the nursing part also on my four patients. part of the training i guess... After the turn around is when my day gets better, because now it seems like I have all the time in the world, and I don't feel rush anymore. On the first shift you have to rush because you want to be ready for the turnaround. But after the second shift, there's no turn around to worry about, you just have to get take the patients off and get the bay ready for the next day (we only have 2 shifts in my clinic). So aside from that you also have to deal with NO teamwork despite that davita talks a lot about their core values and one of them is teamwork, techs vs nurse, lvn vs rn issues (who knows more and that kind of stuff). Why can't we just get along and work and learn together. Oh i forgot THERE'S NO TEAMWORK. Also more often than not i'm scavenging for supplies that are essential to get through the day such as tape (how am i going to secure a needle w/o tape), 4x4, syringes (can't pass medications and access catheters), bleach stirps (basically everyday you're basically suppose to check for bleach in the machien with bleach strips or else your patients might get bleach into their body, so how do they think we can even start the day without these?)

Thanks. I have a couple of follow up questions. 1. how do i get everything on paper? do I turn in an application first for navy nurse and once I got accepted, they will let me know everything from all my benefits, how much I'm making, and where I'm going? and then at this time it is my choice wether to accept or decline? or is it too late to decline once I got accepted? 2. What is the likelyhood I'll be assigned with a field hospital and a surgical company? Are those on a red zone? 3. How often will they grant me permission to leave if I have a 3-4 day weekend? traveling from possibly san diego to houston (1,471 miles). I'm thinking of doing it every time I have a 3-4 day weekend. And does this count against my 30day annual leave? 4. I heard that new nurses like me usually get assigned to one of the big three hospitals. And people are usually station in one place for 3-4 years. Since I will only have 3 years of commitment is their only a very small possibility that I will never have to relocate or deployed? Thanks for taking time to answer the questions. This really helps clarify a lot of things rather than searching the navy website for answers.

I graduated with BSN in december and currently working for an outpatient dialysis. I'm seriously considering NAVY nurse to pay for my student loan, get critical care exp for my CRNA, and finance my CRNA school. I have a lot of questions that needs to be answered though to make my decision. 1. The sign on bonus, loan repayment, and payment for my continuing education to get CRNA.. will I automatically have those? or do I have to apply for it and meet certain conditions to get approved for those benefits? I heard something about they only pay 100 hours for master's? is that true or will they pay for all my CRNA school at a civilian institution of my choice for 3 years of service? 2. What is the closest I'll be to danger or battle as a navy nurse? do they actually go out in the field? or they just stay in harbors and ships? 3.BESIDES the 30 days PTO. do I have ADDITIONAL time to go back home and visit my family and friends? Like is holidays part of my 30 day PTO? Do I even get holidays? Also maybe if I have a 4 day weekend can I leave the base to go back home (not using my PTO)? or do I have to ask permission first? are any of these trips paid for by the navy? 4. My biggest concern is that I have a girlfriend that i'm going to leave for 3 years. I was wondering if anyone was ever in the same situation and what happened to the relationship? (not married, no kids) any answers and perspectives are appreciated, I've actually been searching around the internet, including facebook for forums like these. I also already talked to a recruiter but I need to clarify a lot of stuff since I do'nt want to join and sacrifice 3 years without knowing what I'm jumping into.

Yea I'm a bit concerned about that also. I'm a new grad so it might be hard for me to know the right thing when everyone else is telling me otherwise. Sure they teach me in school about all these things. But seriously though, you learn to be a nurse on the job. I only had one rotation into dialaysis and the dialysis nurse just basically gave me a book and said, "here read this." Not much of a good learning experience. So hopefully during my orientation they teach me the right things so I won't just go with the flow and do whatever everybody's doing.

Hi I'm a new grad starting dialysis at Houston Davita. I heard some good and bad stuff about dialysis; and about Davita also. One of the thing I heard about concerns me a lot, about I might loose my liscense? I just graduated and worked very hard to earn my liscense. I don't want to loose my liscense just when I got it. Does anyone have any tips for a new grad? Also anyone know if there is a Nurse Dialysis Association I can join to make sure I can talk to other people and still maintaining good nurse practice?

Hi I'm a grad of Dec 2008. I've been applying for a job here and there. My first thought was I wanted to get into Medical surgical ICU. Boy finding a job these days as a new grad sure is tough!!! The conclusion is I wasn't able to get into any hospital setting. I accepted a job at an outpatient dialysis center, but I still dream about becoming an ICU nurse someday. My question is how can I make my self better so next time I apply for the position I can be more appealing? Some of my ideas are: joining the CCNA, ANA, doing volunteer work at the hospital, shadowing a nurse at the unit to hopefully get to know the people there. With all due respect to dialysis nurse, I don't think bieng a dialysis nurse may seem appealing when applying for an ICU position. Maybe if i was in a med-surge floor I'll have better chances to get in the ICU. So I thought about finding a med-surge position. Resign as a dialysis nurse in 6-mo - 1yr. Work as a med-surge, while looking for an ICU position. Then move onto ICU. My problem with that is, I don't think it's fair for the company or unit to train me then leave them. Second, it might look bad on my work history that I'm always quiting a job. But I can't help it though; my true passion is ICU. What are your thoughts and opionions in how I should get myself into that ICU position?

I live in Houston TX. All my plans are basically on hold because of this hiring freeze. I was hoping to get into an ICU position at the hospital. Work for 2 years and then enter Grad school for nurse anesthetist. Then start working as a nurse anesthetist after 2 years of grad school. But now I'm just scavenging for any job I can land, even if its not ICU setting or hospital setting.

Heck yea!!! I applied to almost all the hospitals as the medical center. Plus 4 hospitals further out. I also submitted my resume online to monsterjobs.com and other such sites. So far I've only gotten one phone call to be interviewd. But that went in a dead end. I also graduated on Dec 2008. It's frusrating that I don't have a job since then.