westieluv

westieluv

Med/Surg, Tele, Dialysis, Hospice

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All Content by westieluv

  1. Doctor and nurse

    westieluv replied to nnadozieogechi's topic in General Nursing

    Level of responsibility, amount of schooling, and cost of schooling. Those three reasons, but my main reason was because I was raised by a mother who had to work full time out of necessity (my dad...

  2. Other Jobs That a Nurse Can Do?

    westieluv replied to westieluv's topic in Nursing Career

    Thanks for all of your replies, I really appreciate you all taking the time to try to help me. I guess it's a little more complex than I implied, because I definitely don't want to go back to school...

  3. Should I just give up?

    westieluv replied to FransBevy's topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    Oh, my gosh! Your post couldn't be more timely for me, as I'm sitting here browsing Indeed.com for other jobs right now. Don't get me wrong, I have only been with my "Big Two" company for a year and I...

  4. Clonidine Use in the Chronic Unit

    westieluv replied to westieluv's topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    Thanks so much for all of your replies. I still hesitate to give it and normally don't, regardless of what another nurse may do. I wish our clinic didn't automatically offer it as a PRN for everyone,...

  5. administering medication via fistula needle...

    westieluv replied to hazyblue's topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    I've never heard of anyone piercing the tubing to give a patient's treatment meds. Why on earth would they need to do that when there are so many other ports in the system that are designed just for...

  6. Too slow for fast pace job?

    westieluv replied to Navygurl's topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    Are you serious? That RN is already judging your ability after only two weeks on the job??? Wow. We have a couple of new PCTs in our unit who have been there for about a month and they still need lots...

  7. Too slow for fast pace job?

    westieluv replied to Navygurl's topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    It's too bad that you have an RN in your facility who would be that rude to you. New employees, and especially people who are new to dialysis, need support and encouragement, not negativity and...

  8. Davita Ddialysis Nurse

    westieluv replied to mkrw's topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    Wise words here! Every nursing job has its negatives, that's just the reality of working in healthcare in 2014 where people are getting sicker and money is getting tighter. Most nurses, regardless of...

  9. difficulty in getting dialysis nurse job

    westieluv replied to thomas76's topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    Well, my experience in acutes was that if the patient started to crash, sure, you take them off and the hospital staff takes over, but then everyone, including the doctors sometimes, question whether...

  10. Dialysis Start Time

    westieluv replied to nurseontheway's topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    In our clinic we don't have to be there until 5:30, and the patients start rolling in at 5:45. I get up at 3:15 on the days that I work. I usually go to bed around 9:00. I don't get eight hours of...

  11. difficulty in getting dialysis nurse job

    westieluv replied to thomas76's topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    That wasn't my experience. I originally applied for a home dialysis RN position with Fresenius and they called me within 24 hours. I didn't end up taking that position because it was going to involve...

  12. difficulty in getting dialysis nurse job

    westieluv replied to thomas76's topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    I also started out in acutes with no dialysis experience. I found the opposite to be true; in acutes, there may be other people around, as in the floor nurses at the hospital where you are working,...

  13. difficulty in getting dialysis nurse job

    westieluv replied to thomas76's topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    I think acutes would be easier to get into. I know it is in my area because there is a huge turnover, due to the erratic hours and on call requirement. It is like a revolving door around here; they...

  14. difficulty in getting dialysis nurse job

    westieluv replied to thomas76's topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    Do you have any other experience besides being an IV nurse? I work for Fresenius, and I know that they like for you to have some floor experience, especially critical

  15. Good Resource for Learning Adequacy Measurements?

    westieluv posted a topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    I recently made the transition from acutes to chronics with one of the "Big Two" HD companies. While I am much happier in chronics, I am still not entirely "getting" the whole Kt/V, ekrdt/V (I...

  16. Good Resource for Learning Adequacy Measurements?

    westieluv replied to westieluv's topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    I didn't get the course because I was hired for acutes where we don't use adequacy measures. I have asked a couple of times if I can take it, but because we're so short handed, the idea seems to be...

  17. Good Resource for Learning Adequacy Measurements?

    westieluv replied to westieluv's topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    Thank you so much! These are very

  18. Is turning the utrafiltration off ok?

    westieluv replied to nurseREA's topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    That makes perfect sense. How can we pull off potassium, urea, etc. if it has no medium in which to travel? it seems like it would just pass through the dialyzer with the other blood

  19. Is turning the utrafiltration off ok?

    westieluv replied to nurseREA's topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    I am fairly new to dialysis (9 months now), but at our clinic, as well as in our acutes department, we are never to turn the UF completely off. The minimum we can go is 300 ml/hr. and if that is not...

  20. Preventing Extracorporeal Clotting in the Acute Setting

    westieluv posted a topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    I am getting pretty comfortable in the acute HD setting, but I still worry about clotting the dialyzer during each tx. It has only happened to me on a handful of occasions, and my more experienced...

  21. When to Give Epogen and Hectorol?

    westieluv posted a topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    When I worked in acutes, I was told to always give these meds at the very end of the treatment so that they don't get dialyzed out, but now that I work in chronics, I've noticed that the other nurses...

  22. Essential Personnel

    westieluv replied to FransBevy's topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    As a dialysis nurse who must go to work no matter what, I have been wondering just how many dialysis nurses and techs were sitting in that quagmire traffic on those expressways in Atlanta, Charlotte,...

  23. Davita Ddialysis Nurse

    westieluv replied to mkrw's topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    Okay, so I work for the other of the "Big Two" companies and as such don't know really anything about working for Davita, much less their starting salary in the Las Vegas area, but I do know about...

  24. When to Give Epogen and Hectorol?

    westieluv replied to westieluv's topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    The more Epo you use the more the clinic gets paid? Really? That's pretty tacky! I know we give a lot, normally 3 doses a week for each of our chronic patients, and we have to treat it like liquid...

  25. When to Give Epogen and Hectorol?

    westieluv replied to westieluv's topic in Dialysis, Renal, Urology

    Thanks for both of your replies. Apparently, I was told the wrong information by my preceptor in acutes, because he said to always give the Epogen during the last 10 minutes of the tx. That may be...