Is there a general dislike of nurses , especially new dialysis nurses?

[terry-upstate-ny]

I am a Registered Nurse  and I am interested in becoming a dialysis nurse.  I have been reading this website for hours and I detect some feelings that people are unhappy with the way they are treated by staff at the dialysis centers.  Are new nurses not accepted well because patients fear that their fistulas will be damaged by inexperienced nurses? What can be done about this?
 I have been a psychiatric nurse for may years, I love working with people.  I want to take care of people but I realize that I have to master taking care of the needles, tubings and machines in order to do that in dialysis. I saw the videos on the buttonhole technique and will learn more about it.
Terry





EDITED: Thread Moved to Proper Topic: Dialysis Workers - Sluff, Moderator

[jbeany]

We're training a new nurse in my unit right now.  So far, she hasn't been allowed to cannulate anyone, but i'm sure they are going to start training her soon.  None of the patients is happy about being the first guinea pig.  It's not like an IV.  If you screw up placing an IV, you just move to a different spot.  Iif you screw up the access, we have to get a temp cath placed, or if the access is damaged enough, get a new one.  Surely you can understand why we are worried about this?   There are only so many places to use before you are stuck permanently with a catheter.  I've already had the least experienced of the other nurses hook me up, and I'm hoping it doesn't happen again anytime soon.  She was hesitant, awkward, and it hurt a lot while she was fishing around trying to figure out where to put the needles. 

. . .I detect some feelings that people are unhappy with the way they are treated by staff at the dialysis centers.

I'd say the majority of the frustrations we feel with the nurses and medical staff have very little to do with fears about them compromising our accesses, though.  There are hundreds of other reasons we butt heads with them on a regular basis.  Keep reading!

[Epoman]

I am a Registered Nurse  and I am interested in becoming a dialysis nurse.  I have been reading this website for hours and I detect some feelings that people are unhappy with the way they are treated by staff at the dialysis centers.  Are new nurses not accepted well because patients fear that their fistulas will be damaged by inexperienced nurses? What can be done about this?
 I have been a psychiatric nurse for may years, I love working with people.  I want to take care of people but I realize that I have to master taking care of the needles, tubings and machines in order to do that in dialysis. I saw the videos on the buttonhole technique and will learn more about it.
Terry

Tell you what, if you treat us as a human being and not some "thing" that sits in a chair 3 times week we won't have a problem. Learn to respect us as a fellow human being. Don't think you are better than us, don't think you are smarter than us, because believe me some of us know way more about nephrology than you. The problem I have with "Some" nurses is that they forget why they got into nursing in the FIRST place. I know some nurses got into nursing for a big paycheck, and please don't tell me you don't make enough. Because in my area there are hospital nurses making $30-$50++ an hour.  But the nursing profession was created to treat the patient while the doctor treats the illness, so if you don't forget that, we will like you. It is true, if you can not cannulate well than that is a big negative toward you. however personality goes a long way. I have seen nurses who literally think their shit doesn't stink, just because they are the one standing and not sitting in that chair. I have let NEW techs stick me because I watched them move up from being a "reuse tech" and they treated me like a person not a "sicko" sitting in a chair. And on the flip side there have been nurses that I would not even let get near me.

Let me ask you this WHY? do you want to enter the dialysis field? Is it because charge nurses at a center make a lot of money? Or is it because you want to make a difference because of what you read here and you truly want to help people like us?

- Epoman
Owner/Admin

[boxman55]

Epoman asks some good questions for you to consider. I can tell you that I have a new tech at my clinic. She is not a nurse but, the techs are the ones that hook me up. I have a chest cath because of a failed fistula. This person scares me to death when she is working on me. I just feel that she is not properly trained. So I guess what I am saying is, please be very good at what you choose to be. Because the patient expects nothing less. Boxman55

[scyankee]

I first want to say that I have alot of respect for anyone who choses to go into the nursing field.
It takes a "special" person to deal with life and death on a daily basis. And not just dialysis.
However, speaking of dialysis, there is nothing worse than watching new employees being
"trained on the job"!  YIKES!  Not for me. Don't go near me. I will watch you for a couple of
months before I even want you to touch my machine much less ME!   I hope you are up to
the challenge of 12-14 hrs days in a very monotonous setting.  Maybe you can make a difference.
I hope so for your patients and you. I have been so very frustrated with my staff for not listening
to me these 14 months. I have lost respect for them and I know that it would not be any
different in another center so that is why I don't go "shopping" somewhere else.
 Good luck to you!
 SCYankee

[brenda]

It seems to me it's a general attitude nurse's seem to acquire over time. Especially if you are a patient with a mind of your own. I had on nurse say to me in Calgary, "well, you have a renal personality don't you"! What does that mean? I also found at my short little stay in Calgary that they were all in such a hurry to get their assigned people on, for what? So they could chit-chat longer or what. Sometimes I felt like I was interupting their social life. Soooorrry! they forget we are who pays their wage. At one point in time, self-are was on the same floor as stable care. The stable care nurses would not! help the self-care patients because they were not getting paid to do that! But yet here in Lethbridge the nurses are mostly very caring.

[jedimaster]

I agree with Epoman. You want to be a good dialysis nurse?....treat the patients as they are people, not just a "patient". LISTEN, not hear. ADVISE, not give orders. We know our weak points, we know how we feel...have compassion. Somedays we might look great but we might feel horrible...UNDERSTAND us....

[mallory]

I'm not on hemo, I'm on PD.  I don't have a general dislike of nurses, but I do appreciate good nurses.  In my opinion, good nurses act like they truly care about me as a person.  Bad nurses are just doing a job. 

I have to get chemo once a month.  Depending on which day of the week I go, I get two different nurses.  One of them is very nice, she makes sure I get a blanket, she keeps checking to make sure I'm not sick, she takes the time to talk to me when she can.  She gives me hard candy to suck on because the medication gives you a bad taste in your mouth, she makes sure I get lunch because I'm there over the lunch hour, and she makes sure I have enough to drink because the medication needs to be flushed out of my body quickly.  I wouldn't say the other one isn't nice, but she doesn't act like she cares very much.  I get really, really cold when they're giving me the chemo, and the second nurse will never get me a blanket, although I do ask her for one.  I have to get the chemo treatment for 5 hours, so I'm usually there from 9:00 am to 2:00 p.m., but the second nurse will never order a lunch for me.  She doesn't ask if I need a drink, nothing.  Just sticks in the IV and leaves.  She only comes back if the alarm goes off on the IV.

Just care about me and treat me like a human being.  Listen to what I have to say, I might really be trying to tell you something important.  That's all I ask, and I'm very willing to do the same for any nurse I ever work with.

[kitkatz]

I have found the happy medium with the nurses now in the unit. It only has taken eight years.   I am the boss when it comes to my treatments.  I want to know when meds are given to me.  I want ex planantions of things given to me before they are done.  I want my treatment plan explained in full to me before I sign for it.  I want my blood work back in a timely manner.   I like and respect most of the nurses on the unit I am in because they work with me and they understand that I am in charge of me.  They work horrendous hours and have a full load on them.  Remember if anything goes wrong in the unit it can be their license that will be on the line.  It is any wonder they watch everyone like hawks and are a little bit stressed.

[AlasdairUK]

I'm happy with 99% of my nurses. There always has to be one that you do not get on with or vice versa. The problem i have had when it comes to nurses is that they do not listen to me and I know more about my body than they do. They think they know better than us. Keep in mind it is just the 1% for me.

I do not have a problem with new nurses sticking me as long as I know I can trust them. My fistula is a reasonable size and straight so nurses do not normally have a problem.

[jasperkat]

Most of the nurses on my husband's unit are friendly and competent.  I have found that as time has gone on and they know my husband and me better that things are going more smoothly.  In our case I have been designated by hubby as the spokesmodel and it clear that everything must be discussed with me.  They know that I will be perfectly blunt with them when there is a problem but I also make sure to show our appreciation for the little things - a pillow, a wormed blanket and setting up lunch if I can't be there to do it.  There is one nurse who clearly does not like me to be present.  She sends me away when he is being put on the machine the "forgets" to tell me when I can come back.  She also seems unable to get the fistula to work.  I just pray she is not assigned to him.  I will make an issue about it if necessary.  There is always one!

[BigSky]

Personally I never have a problem with new nurses as long as they show they are competent.

It has never bothered me for a new nurse to stick me.  Even now that I stick myself if a new nurse needs to try it out I have no problem.

Though I do find it fun to jump just before they try to stick to give them a  big adrenaline rush.

In all my time there has only been one nurse who I did not trust.  Fortunately  he left.  Unfortunately after a year or so the dink recently came back as a part time tech and word is that is trying to get job as a nurse again.

[Rerun]

Some states are different.  In California only Nurses can hook-up to chest catheters so the techs usually stab the fistulas.  Since the nurses don't do it everyday I won't let them canulate my fistula. 

To be a good nurse you need to KNOW nephrology.  Know your stuff and you will be respected.  Be considerate and listen and you will be liked.

[glitter]

Be nice to the persons caregivers too,don't get impatient when you have to explain things to them,my husband in not always coherent,he never remembers what you say-and I have to know so I can take care of his needs.

[kitkatz]

I love to ask the tech and nurses if the dialyzer is clear.  I use a non-reuse dialyzer so the question is moot, but you should see the knee jerk reaction I get from some of them.  Muhahaha! One of these days smack right in the kisser!

[DeLana]

I am a Registered Nurse  and I am interested in becoming a dialysis nurse.  I have been reading this website for hours and I detect some feelings that people are unhappy with the way they are treated by staff at the dialysis centers.  Are new nurses not accepted well because patients fear that their fistulas will be damaged by inexperienced nurses? What can be done about this?
 I have been a psychiatric nurse for may years, I love working with people.  I want to take care of people but I realize that I have to master taking care of the needles, tubings and machines in order to do that in dialysis. I saw the videos on the buttonhole technique and will learn more about it.
Terry

Welcome, Terry!

It sounds to me that you have what it takes to become a good dialysis nurse.  It would be helpful to have some acute care background, but is not an absolute requirement.  Having IV skills would help, but cannulation can be learned - it will just take time (even if you have IV skills already, you will learn that grafts are a whole new story!)

You have gotten some good advice and input so far.  Always remember to treat the patients with dignity.  If you have trouble (especially sticking, and you will as you learn), always get help and don't just blindly stick or fish; the fistula or graft is truly your patient's lifeline, and s/he will protect it.  It helps to have a thick skin and not take everything personally - some patients will not let you stick them, for whatever reason, you have to just accept it and move on.  But many more will, especially if you always treat them with respect.

If you have more questions about dialysis nursing, you can also post them in the "Dialysis Employees" section.

Again, welcome!

DeLana