Trying to find my place in nursing & new to dialysis/FMC

[sunshine9403]

:bow:Hello all any experienced diaylsis nurses have any good things to say about dialysis and FMC? I have been a nurse for a year and left the hospital setting for an FMC dialysis unit and will be required to be on call for the hospital I left once I go through 5 weeks of training. Would like to know what the charting is like, patients, and just a day in the life of a dialysis nurse who loves what they do. I have read so many negative post on here about Fresinius and dailysis that it is making me nervous and would like to hear some postive aspects of dailysis and FMC. Any information will be greatly apperciated.

[Mayonaze]

Hi Sunshine!

Okay, so you want to become a dialysis nurse.........or you are at least going to give it a shot. Awesome.

First thing is first.....Dialysis Nursing is VERY specialized and it is a love/hate career. Those of us that love it also hate it. It is just the way it goes. It is a very rewarding career, but it is also tough, exhausting physically and mentally and it will beat you into the ground if you let it. This is typically why you hear us venting and complaining about it often! Most of us that remain in the field of Nephrology also have similar personalities....... we may not want to admit it, but we do! Most of us do not have problems being open and up front about what is on our minds.......also why you see what appears to be a great deal of complaining. We are also a very tight group, so once you have become a member at one unit, you are a part of the entire dialysis community.

Do NOT expect to feel comfortable in your position for at least a year. give or take a month or two. You may become very good at your duties and dialysis, but it takes a good deal of time before you have encountered enough situations to be really comfortable. and that is not to be discouraging, it is just to make you aware. i have always told new nurses to the unit, you have to give this unit a good 4-6 months before you can really know if you love or hate it. if you cannot stick it out for that long, this may not be the place for them. most nurses KNOW within the first few weeks if dialysis is what they want to do. dialysis is NOT an easy unit to work in. like i said, it will beat you down if you let it. there is a GREAT deal to learn in dialysis, it takes alot of hard work, but it is well worth the effort!

I have worked in outpatient dialysis as well as inpatient/acute dialysis at a large level four trauma hospital. each unit has pros and cons and it is entirely a personal preference on which we perfer. i love and am experienced in ER and ICU nursing, therefore i am partial to acute dialysis. i have also worked in pediatric dialysis which is also very enjoyable. Yet the outpatient units are larger, have much more staff and more flexibility. In the hospital if you are the last person there, you are it. and we do on call a great deal. in our unit, there are ONLY RNs and we are responsible for ALL of our patients care, not just their dialysis treatment.

as for charting......again, in the acute unit, we do a great deal of charting. Outpatient, not as bad, but you may have to do more during your acute treatments when you get called in. it depends on the unit and the patient.

On call for the outpatient unit can go either way, but it is typically not so bad. i have always enjoyed the change of pace and spontaneous nature of on call. although 2am is tough to appreciate. hahaha

you may get called in for one of the chronic dialysis patients from your unit who drank too much over the weekend ~added 10 pds. to their weight and they cannot breathe, or ate potatoes for dinner and they went to the ER with heart palpatations b/c their potassium is through the roof. VERY common!!!

I think if you are a hardworker, love patient care and being part of a very close unit and team, you will LOVE dialysis!!!!!!!

oh and one last thing........... you MUST have a sense of humor or you will NOT survive! good luck my friend! and WELCOME to the wonderful world of dialysis!!!

ps...i have not personally worked an FMC unit, but i have heard both sides and it seems it is all just the same. It will all hinder on your attitude and sense of humor!!!

[dialysisguy]

I love FMC!!! Much better than DaVita for me...:typing

DG:smokin:

[Natkat, BSN, MSN, RN]

I've seen people leave Fresenius to work at Davita, only to turn around and come back a year later. If Fresenius is bad, Davita must be worse.

I don't know. I've only worked for Fresenius. I can't say much for the company but I absolutely love the people I work with. When I hear people complain about catty coworkers and eating their young, I've NEVER had to deal with that.

I work acute and I enjoy the autonomy. It can be terrifying when something goes wrong and you don't have anyone to help you or back you up. It's just you all by yourself. But I love it that there is no lifting, no cleaning up poo (or only rarely), no stinky wound dressing changesand we only give a few meds.

I hated dialysis for a very long time but stuck with it because I felt I worked too hard for those skills to just turn around and give up. Now I'm glad I hung in there because I love what I do and I feel like I hit the jackpot as far as career fullfillment goes.

[smak60]

What is the pay rate for working in a dialysis center???? or hospital etc.???