Take job in dialysis or OR?

[Nurse Magnolia]

Yes...very different specialties. I have the opportunity to work at either and I can't decide between the two!

I am a new nurse (9 months). I left my psych job a few weeks ago due to COVID and the fact that the patients live in a community-style unit and we were still taking new admits and not making anyone wear masks or even (at the time I left) limiting visitors. I could see that when this hit the unit, it would hit hard. My husband is immune-compromised so I felt like the risk on this unit was high.

I began looking for new jobs that would start in 1-2 months and I landed two offers. My goals were to get back into a more medical nursing career. I love psych, but it's not what I want to do long term.

The first offer is in a local dialysis clinic that has plenty of PPE. Hours are 4 10's a week. 2 Saturdays a month. Lots of opportunity for advancement and growth. Pay is good.

The second offer was for an OR nurse in a large hospital system. M-F with rotational call. Pay is lower than Dialysis.

OR interests me from a technical standpoint and the idea that I would get to see a lot of really interesting cases. I'm a pretty analytical and detail-oriented person. Dialysis interests me because I like the location of the clinic (shorter commute than the hospital) and better options for growth without going back for an advanced degree.

Concerns for Dialysis is that I'll be bored and the start times are EARLY. Concerns for OR are that I won't really get to talk to patients much and that I will have to stand for very long periods of time.

I know these specialities are worlds apart. I like them both and I have concerns for both.

So it will come down to this -

Which position do you think has the least amount of COVID risk? I know OR has risk for intubating and extubating. Other risks you can see? Dialysis risks?

My husband being immune-compromised is top of my list for accommodations I need to make for my career.

I know this is all over the place. I feel all over the place. I truly cannot decide! I have zero experience in either and I can't shadow because of COVID - which makes this decision a blind shot in the dark.

(Cross-posted to OR nursing forum)

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

38 minutes ago, kbrn2002 said:

Congratulations! I think you'll end up loving it but prepared to be a little overwhelmed in the beginning. I had no idea how much I didn't know about kidney care until I started this job. I am about half way through a 12 week orientation and it's just now starting to come together a little bit.

The 12wks will pass in the blink of an eye. The tech training will frustrate you, but after that, it's smooth sailing

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

11 minutes ago, Hoosier_RN said:

The 12wks will pass in the blink of an eye. The tech training will frustrate you, but after that, it's smooth sailing

I had that light bulb moment this week. I realized after stressing about it so much that I was not hired as a tech. I will never be expected to be as fast and efficient at that job as those amazing people are. I decided as long as I end up knowing how to do the job by the end of this part of training I won't worry about being fast at it.

[Nurse Magnolia, BSN, RN]

I just received in the mail the 3 workbooks totalling over 600 pages of information that I will learn in orientation! Holy Moley! Glad they appear so organized with orientation. I'm looking forward to getting started and learning all of this!

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

14 hours ago, Nurse Magnolia said:

I just received in the mail the 3 workbooks totalling over 600 pages of information that I will learn in orientation! Holy Moley! Glad they appear so organized with orientation. I'm looking forward to getting started and learning all of this!

Yeah, I haul that heavy bag of books back and forth every day. Even during floor orientation the PCT that is training me makes sure I have time to get some computer stuff done during the down time when all patients are in the chair so there's never really a break from that bag of books!

It's a lot to learn. The only thing negative at all I can think of about their training/learning schedule is the I have noticed it seems somewhat out of sync with what they have me learning on the floor. I was learning some of the more advanced stuff pretty early in the process and it really made zero sense to me at the time so I am hopeful that when I get to that point in my practice I'll remember it. Recently I had a required virtual class that covered stuff I've been actually doing for a week or so already. I do think it would have made more sense to have the required computer classes line up more closely with my on the floor training.

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

6 minutes ago, kbrn2002 said:

Yeah, I haul that heavy bag of books back and forth every day. Even during floor orientation the PCT that is training me makes sure I have time to get some computer stuff done during the down time when all patients are in the chair so there's never really a break from that bag of books!

It's a lot to learn. The only thing negative at all I can think of about their training/learning schedule is the I have noticed it seems somewhat out of sync with what they have me learning on the floor. I was learning some of the more advanced stuff pretty early in the process and it really made zero sense to me at the time so I am hopeful that when I get to that point in my practice I'll remember it. Recently I had a required virtual class that covered stuff I've been actually doing for a week or so already. I do think it would have made more sense to have the required computer classes line up more closely with my on the floor training.

That's odd, we were able to keep ours in sync. Our preceptors (pct) all have 20+ years experience, 10+ as preceptors. Maybe they've got a pattern to teaching? I wish I could get other techs to stay longer, thats my frustration

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

5 hours ago, Hoosier_RN said:

That's odd, we were able to keep ours in sync. Our preceptors (pct) all have 20+ years experience, 10+ as preceptors. Maybe they've got a pattern to teaching? I wish I could get other techs to stay longer, thats my frustration

I have to have all the RN specific training done before my test date which is before I am done with the PCT portion of the floor training so a lot of that content has been squeezed in between the PCT required learning.

I think part of the problem now is the fast tracked training which shaved a couple of weeks off the overall orientation so I am covering content that wouldn't necessarily have been included this early in the process.

[peanutbutterfly]

On 4/19/2020 at 5:15 PM, Nurse Magnolia said:

I just received in the mail the 3 workbooks totalling over 600 pages of information that I will learn in orientation! Holy Moley! Glad they appear so organized with orientation. I'm looking forward to getting started and learning all of this!

How has your position been going?

[Nurse Magnolia, BSN, RN]

6 hours ago, peanutbutterfly said:

How has your position been going?

I have a thread going here called “thoughts from a new dialysis nurse” that goes into detail how the job is going so far!