RN to...? What's next when you need $ but have kidney failure?

[SunnyPupRN]

Hi,

I'm an RN practicing in private duty, with 4 years of psych experience and some women's health. I am just not making enough money - I have stage three kidney disease and and it often makes me very fatigued. Right now I do short shifts...after about 5 hours I have flank pain [maybe from not being hydrated enough...] a couple days a week.

My forté is in documentation and compliance, as well as psych....At one hospital they use to ask me to audit charts.

I am thinking that the RN-MSN in Patient Quality and Safety might be a good fit, but I'm also interested in therapy/counseling.

My questions are: How do you pay for more school when you are barely making living expenses? I cannot go into debt. Has anyone done Southern New Hampshire's program on Patient Quality and Safety? How long would it take to get a degree in counseling? I have an ADN with 60-some credits at another university.

Thanks

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I've had several former coworkers on chronic hemodialysis. One was a nurse who worked the midnight shift (11pm to 7:30am) on the floor at a nursing home. She'd visit the dialysis center three times weekly from 9am to 1pm for her sessions, then slept from 2pm to 10pm. Night shift at a nursing home allowed her to sit and do paperwork, enabling her to work around her fatigue.

Another coworker was a 22-year-old CNA who received her hemodialysis sessions from 5am to 9am three times weekly. She worked the floor at a nursing home five days per week from 2pm to 10:30pm.

I know you still have kidney function left and will keep my fingers crossed that you maintain enough of it to never need dialysis. Nonetheless, many people with CKD and ESRD maintain full-time employment

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

I'm a nephrology APN - hopefully you are under the care of a nephrologist and are optimizing your health by keeping tight control of your BP and diabetes (if you have these diseases) and adhering strictly to your diet.

What about case management?

Telephone triage?

One of the newest members of the National Kidney Foundation is a PA who has (unfortunately) undergone two renal transplants. Maybe look into a nephrology job (not at a dialysis unit but rather an office job).

[NICUmiiki, DNP, NP]

I'd pursue nursing informatics if I was in your position.