MarkTX

Hey RN017! Where are you located? The daily work routine is as follows: Arrive at unit and locate the pile of papers that are orders for the day. See how many nurses are currently working in the unit and how many are doing bedside treatments Decide whether to work in the unit or bedside based on how many treatments are needed of each and how many nurses are working in those roles. Physically take the papers with the orders for the patients I plan to treat that day and begin checking labs/filling out paperwork/talking to doctors about possible changes to treatments based on changes in lab values since the orders were written. Either call a transporter to pick up the first patient or go to the storage room and grab a mobile machine. Turn on the machine and start rinsing (15 minute wait). While rinsing, set up machine for treatment and assess patient. Finish paperwork necessary before treatment. Begin treatment. During treatment: Document vitals every 15 minutes Educate patient regarding maintenance of their access, dietary modifications, treatment options, etc. Remember, some of these people have never had dialysis before. Document dressing changes/meds/I&Os etc in the computer Start looking up labs/orders for next patient After treatment: Return blood, flush catheter/hold fistula/graft until hemostatic, bandage appropriately. Call transport to pick up patient or clean machine and move it to next room. Rinse and repeat. Most acute dialysis units will not hire a nurse with no dialysis experience. Ideally they want someone who has worked in chronic dialysis and the ICU. This has become unrealistic in some areas, my own included. We recently hired a couple new grad nurses with ZERO experience, but we were desperate. I transferred from chronic dialysis and was grateful for the background knowledge. I would highly recommend at least 6 months in a chronic unit just to get really good at placing needles and understanding policies and procedures before you are in such an independent place as acute dialysis. We do 2:1 ratio in the chronic unit. We can do 3:1 if we have a tech. This varies by state and hospital policy. Bedside is 1:1 and is generally ICU or a patient with some type of isolation that they can't come to the unit (think TB or C. diff type of stuff) or if they are generally unstable and we want them close to their nurse. We don't give any meds other than those directly related to dialysis. We don't take any orders for any doctor other than a nephrologist. If a patient needs to go to the bathroom during a treatment and just can't wait, we either give them a urinal/bedpan, or end the treatment early and have their nurse pick them up. A shift can be 5 hours with just one patient or they could beg you to take a 3rd shift and you end up working close to 20 hours. You might think you will only have a 5 hour day, then at the last minute you get orders for a treatment in the ER and you're there another 5. We also have to be on call once a week. The on call person has to be available for times when there is no one available in the hospital to take a stat patient. It could be at ANY tim It pays $50 for a weekday or $75 for a weekend plus your normal pay if you get called in. Just like any part of the nursing world, where you work, who your coworkers are, and who your boss is plays a big role in how happy you will be with your job. I find myself feeling kind of burnt out and generally not very happy with where I am, but the money is good and it really is a good job if that makes sense.

lol. I didn't see the comma between nurse and administrator . Yes. I would not wish FA on anyone.

I'm sure you're right. A recurring theme from every acute nurse I spoke with was lots and and lots of hours and crazy long days. Nurses are ultimately responsible to ensure their patients get the care they need and sometimes that requires an extra long day. Anyone who can't do that needs to find a job that isn't bedside. The occasional 4th shift patient that is going to die without dialysis is expected and understandable. When it becomes a regular occurrence, that's when you need to have a conversation with your manager and be prepared to move on if that is really important to you.

So how's the first semester going? Everyone doing okay?

Sounds like some eastern governors want in on the action They'll need to change the school's name to Governor's Univerisity.

I can't imagine why their program has anything to do with the NCBON. If you were in a prelicensure program that would make perfect sense, but previously you stated you were starting a masters program with no license given. There must be more to the story.

My understanding is that a handful of units still reuse dializers. For whatever reason, EVERYONE is required to be trained regarding reuse safety and every unit has a spill kit for renalin even if they don't reuse. Don't plan on ever being in a reuse clinic/hospital, but it is possible.

I have spoken with several of the acute care nurses. The common theme I've noticed is LOTS and LOTS of hours. One nurse I spoke with said he knew another nurse who cleared $200,000 last year. Obviously the money is great, but he wasn't talking about it in a positive way. I didn't ask specifically about time off, but I think the implication is that they are short on acute care nurses right now and that always makes it difficult to get time off. They also said that for the day they are on call, the generally get called in. There is a maximum amount of PTO you can have (don't remember how much), so they will allow you to cash out once a year. The hospital is where the money is at. I was just given my new position here at the clinic and I will be making $5/hour more in the hospital. The nice thing is that if I have time and choose to pick up hours in the clinic later, it's at the higher rate of pay.

When I initially applied to DaVita I had a phone interview, a panel interview, an interview with the facility administrator, and 2 shadow days at different clinics. Their hiring process is so slow. For the transfer, I just had a telephone interview with a recruiter and a interview with the administrator. Stick with it through the process. It's a pain, but it's worth it. As for machinery, I assume you are talking about dialysis machines. I have only seen Fresenius machines in use. My clinic uses 2008k2 machines, but I've seen some newer models at newer facilities. Water systems vary from clinic to clinic. It's all some form of reverse osmosis.

I actually just graduated from school and have had my license for a few weeks. I'm scheduled to transfer in 4 weeks and was told to expect up to 8 weeks of training to include other modalities such as peritoneal dialysis and apheresis. Starting range for a new grad RN in acutes in Houston is low $30s. 3 days on, one day on call ($50/$75 on call pay for weekdays/weekends respectively), no more than 3 shifts of patients per day. Ratio is 1:1 if it's in the patient's room or 2:1 on the unit. They don't use techs except for patient transport and taking care of machines.

What is a nurse administrator? Is that like a clinical coordinator or a facility administrator?

Hi TravelLusting and NurseRies. I am a RN with DaVita in Texas. They took me on in chronic outpatient as a new grad LVN, paid for my tuition while I was transitioning to RN, built my work schedule around my school schedule, and transferred me to a much better paying acute position in the hospital upon graduation. The benefits are nice and affordable, and they give bonuses twice a year (last year was almost $4000). They give the clinics a lot of autonomy so the experience you have at one clinic could be entirely different than you would have at one just down the street. I would definitely recommend DaVita and have helped several of my classmates get jobs here as well. Once you are a fully trained employee, you can pick up hours at any DaVita clinic (a little more difficult across state lines, but doable). You can try out different units and find one that is best for you, build rapport with the staff, and transfer over when the opportunity presents itself. There are plenty of things I could complain about as well, but they aren't big and I have worked in plenty of other healthcare environments. They ALL have problems.

I was a LVN (Texas version of LPN) and just graduated last month from a transition to RN program at a local community college. The problem with WGU for you is that they give you very little, if any, credit for your LPN license that you worked so hard for (not patronizing, my LVN program was much more difficult that the RN program I just finished). Even at the community college I only saved one semester by having my LVN license. What took a traditional student 4 semesters took me 3 and my LVN program was 3 semesters so I ended up with a total of 6 vs their 4. I was FAR more prepared than most of the traditional students and was making easily twice as much money as most of them working full time during school and while I had a good RN job waiting for me, many of them will have to take entry level RN positions, etc. Who's better off? I don't know. I think I did what was best for me and my family. There is only one LPN-BSN program that I am aware of that is entirely online. It is through Indiana State Nursing: LPN / LVN to BS | DegreeLink | Indiana State University. In my opinion, you are better off finding a local night and weekend program for transition to RN. The increase in pay is significantly more for the LPN-ADN than from ADN to BSN. WGU has, from what my research has found, an amazing RN-BSN/MSN. I will be starting the RN-MSNadmin program in January! As far as babysitters go, there are a lot of resources available for you on base. I'm sure there are lots of moms who are willing to help you. Also, you can easily get the workforce scholarship (federal funds) to pay for your program allowing you to more easily afford to pay for babysitting. Even if you have to take out $15,000 in student loans I promise it will be worth it.

Thanks for your input Jess. I asked my enrollment counselor about the bachelors degree and he said the same thing you did, that they only award a certificate if you need it for employment purposes, but you technically do not get the degree until you finish the MSN. I wonder if it would be cheaper and faster to take a few more credits through WGU with the postmasters option that taking the full MSN at a different school.

Thank you for the thoughtful response Jess6. I wonder if it would be possible to enroll in the RN-MSN program with WGU then stop once you've received your bachelor's degree and get the master's somewhere else. I had a similar conversation with my enrollment counselor. He said that you must finish your MSN, but my understanding with WGU is that with some things, if you don't like what one person is telling you, just ask for someone else :) Anyone try changing to BSN after starting the RN-MSN program at WGU?

I need some help. I just took the NCLEX-RN yesterday (haven't gotten results yet, but got the good popup. :) My goal is to be a FNP. I am definitely doing my bachelor's degree through WGU. Beyond that, I need your help. I am convinced that WGU is going to be perfect for my learning style so for the sake of argument, let's just assume that that is the case. I understand that I may feel differently once I'm doing it. It seems like I should do the RN-MSN Admin program(only do the 3 P's once) and then a postmaster's FNP. My other option is to get the BSN out of the way and get started on a FNP program as soon as possible. Has anyone here done the postmaster's route?

Hi Songbird1 and Lioness80! Obviously the difficulty level of the program is going to vary from student to student based on their individual strengths. My disclaimer is that this worked for me, but may not work for you :) First of all, I work in dialysis so a shift there can range from 6 hours to 16 hours. I can do a long shift and a regular shift + burn my PTO as it accrues and maintain my full time status. On breaks my PTO builds up again and the process repeats itself. Another disclaimer, I was not there for level one so I don't know what they did for schedules, etc. Level two I didn't have skills lab, but the generics did. I'm not sure when they did skills lab. Levels three and four generic and transition are identical. Unless something changes, expect lecture on Mondays and Tuesdays. You can request day class from 8:45 AM - 11:45 AM or evening class from 5:45 PM - 8:45 PM. I never worked on those days so I could study for tests or do homework. I rarely studied or did homework on other days. I knew that it would be easiest to get a regular schedule at work if I requested every Friday/Saturday so I requested Wednesday clinical. You can request Wed, Thur, Fri, or Sat. Level four you will do two days in a row. So for levels two and three I had Sunday off, lecture Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday clinical, Thursday off, regular day Friday, Long day Saturday, repeat. There isn't a lot of busywork, which is nice. There is usually an assignment for each unit and sometimes it can be a beast, but it is weighted so low that if you don't do it, it won't affect your grade like at all. They aren't very effective for my learning so I usually don't do them. Once I turned on in and the instructor was like, "you did one?!" lol. If you do it, they just make you show them that you attempted it and they give you credit, you don't have to put down correct answers. My studying for tests consisted of: listen to the lectures the day before(only exception of not studying on other days)/of the test (they are posted online so you don't need a recorder), watch the medcram videos on youtube for that particular subject (AWESOME) before the applicable lecture and then again the day before/of the test, flip through the several NCLEX review books I have whenever I wanted a little extra preparation. I never cracked a textbook, never took notes in class, never highlighted anything. I have a slightly better than 3.0 GPA. That's about what you can expect with the level of studying I gave. If you want that 3.5 or 4.0 you better quit your job and move in with your parents. Some brainiacs do it all, but I couldn't. I have an interview with Ben Taub trama dept on Tuesday. Wish me luck!

Hey future RNs! I'm currently in the Kingwood transition program about to graduate in August! I came into the program as a LVN and have worked full time this whole year. I also have 4 kids 8 and under. If you have any questions about the program itself or work/school/life balance I would be happy to help :)

Thanks. I can tell you what to expect for next year for the schedule since they don't change it. Monday, Tuesday lecture either 9-11:45 AM or 5:00-7:45 PM. The morning lecture class is small, but I requested it for my second semester and got in no problem. The evening class is HUGE. They don't mind if you sit in on a different class than the one you're scheduled for, but they want you to notify them in advance since they take attendance. The tests are given always on Mondays generally every other week at the same time you are scheduled for class, so that gives the evening class a bit of an advantage since they have all day Monday to study/cram. They don't like to let you switch test times, but they will do so reluctantly if you ask. Clinicals are either wed, thur, fri, or sat. You can request which day works best for you and they are pretty good about giving you what you ask for. Clinicals are 6:30-4:30.

Hi Liz87 :) I wish you the best of luck in your educational pursuits! I'm glad you asked about how the year went. It's nice to take a few minutes to reflect on how the year has gone. It has been a rough year. I worked full time as a LVN in chronic hemodialysis. My schedule was like this: Monday: study/homework, lecture in the evening. Tuesday: study/homework, lecture in the evening. Wednesday: 16 hour shift. Thursday: catch up on family responsibilities (I am married with 4 children under 8 years old), extra studying/homework if necessary, etc. Friday: clinicals. Saturday: 16 hour shift. Sunday: family, church, NO SCHOOL. It was a rough schedule. Clinicals were no problem. Since I had previous med/surg experience I was able to really hit the ground running. My instructors recognized that and, for the most part, just let me do my thing. I bought all the test prep books (nclex incredibly easy, saunders, hesi, strategies for test success, and a couple others). Each helped in its own way. I would try to read through each applicable section a couple days before the test and work through the practice questions/rationales. For lecture, I LOVED the youtube videos called "medcram". They are done by a doctor who explains concepts and principles so clearly. If I watched the applicable videos before lecture, I felt like was was more than prepared without even reading the text. He doesn't cover all of the content, though so I still had to read a little or find other videos. Khan academy is a nice resource as well. The program is really what you make of it. We have lost close to 75 of the original 150 students in the program. They claim that they are there for your success, and I agree to a certain point, but they also design the program in a way that forces the weaker students out. They NEED good pass rates on the NCLEX and can't risk letting a mediocre student attempt it. If you can pick up concepts easily and have a predisposition to do well on tests, you'll be fine. If you have test anxiety and took A&P twice because you didn't get a good grade the first time, this program isn't for you. Unless you want to take it twice because you didn't get a good grade the first time. I don't mean to scare you, just understand that nursing school is survival of the fittest. Again, best of luck and please let me know if there is anything I can help you with!

Did you apply for the LVN program? The RN program has a possible 12 points for the application. If that is for LVN, that score is fantastic and you shouldn't have any problem at all

I was wondering if anyone currently in the program confirmed what books are actually required? Are we for sure using the book list that was emailed to us?

I had a hard time finding recent threads regarding the transition program at LSC Kingwood for fall of 2014. This thread is for current students to discuss the program and ask questions as well as prospective students to ask questions about the program. I just started this fall and am happy to answer what I can. The program is for working nurses/EMTs. Lecture is Monday and Tuesday from 17:00-19:20 with clinical rotations on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday from 06:30 to 16:30. They ask your preference for clinicals, but ultimately you go where they put you. They have 40 slots, but they try to take as many students as they can. The director told me that they try to accept every qualified student who diligently shows up to the orientation meetings and fills out the required paperwork, gets the shots, etc. I'm the perfect example because my score was very low (like a 10.1 or 10.2) and they ended up taking 49 students with me being one of them! They are able to take the extra students by having 3 students from 3 of the clinical groups stay on campus during clinicals and do simulation lab instead. They rotate the sim groups so a person wouldn't alwyas be in sim. This preserves the 10:1 ratio required for clinical instructors for the 4 clinical groups. There is hope, apply and do everything they ask you to do.

I'm really not trying to be negative about nursing as a pathway for you. An experience I would suggest for you would be to get your nurse's aid certification and maybe work for a few months as a CNA. It will be very helpful in preparing you for clinicals as well as a little exposure to A LOT of drugs. It will also help give you an idea of if you have what it takes to tackle nursing school.

Hi, my wife and I are relocating to Houston as well. She has a BSN and 2 years experience in a mother baby unit so her situation is a little different. She's interviewing at memorial hermann - memorial city and texas woman's in about a week. There is a thread entirely devoted to recently graduated nurses in Houston. It's a year old but looks like it would be very helpful. https://allnurses.com/texas-nurses/houston-gn-residencies-541451.html