Outpatient dialysis clinic offered to train me. Six years med-surg, currently nights. Offer is $42 base, I'm at $36 plus night diff so honestly it comes out close to even. Three 12s but the shift starts at 4:30am, which feels like nights wearing a disguise. No weekends except holiday makeup days. They said 10-12 weeks of training before I'm on my own.
What I keep going back and forth on is whether I'll lose my skills. Like if I want to come back to the floor in three years, am I starting over? And the recruiter kept saying the patients are great because you see the same people every week, but a friend who did it said that's exactly what wrecked her. You get attached and then they stop coming.
Any dialysis nurses here who came from acute care? Did you go back or did you stay?
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Post replyIs there a training commitment attached? A lot of the big dialysis companies make you pay back the training if you leave before 18-24 months. Worth asking before you sign anything.
What the recruiter won't mention is the load. My clinic ran one RN over 12+ chairs with techs, and you're signing for all of it. Your friend is right too. I had a guy who brought me butterscotch every Tuesday for two years, and then one week his chair was just empty. You get about five minutes to feel it before the next patient is on the machine.
I'd push back a little on the losing-skills worry. You'll be cannulating, watching fluid shifts and handling pressures that tank mid-run every single day. Those are real skills, just different ones. And with how bad floor staffing is right now, they'll take you back.
"Nights wearing a disguise" is painfully accurate. My alarm at 3:15 felt worse than any night shift I ever worked.
Did outpatient HD for four years after tele. Went back to step-down and the first month was rough, mostly drips and relearning the pump library. But the assessment stuff comes back fast and nobody treated me like a new grad.