My membership just got approved so I am repeating this message.
Hi everyone, I live in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area and I can not find a dialysis job because I do not have dialysis experience. I have a LPN license and I am willing to learn dialysis but I have not had any luck. All the dialysis clinics here want people with experience. How are the one's like me without experience supposed to find a job. And going to school for a dialysis training at a vocational school full-time for six months is not an option for me. I really don't know what to do anymore.

The current situation now with the shortage of nurses worldwide and youre saying you cant find a dialysis job? LPN certified and they only want to hire based on experiece?

Well my experience with dialysis since you are a certified LPN is not a six month training but a six weeks of hands on training, from access to machine set-up. RN in charge can always walk you through these procedures. And just to let you know you cant gain any experience unless they hire you and train you. You have to sacrifice your time and energy if you realy want to get into this fast growing business of Dialysis. Strict rules from $ providers led many dialysis centers to search for experienced Nurses, PCT's, and EQ.techs.

Have you tried Fresenius? They provide a six-week paid training course. The caveat is that if you take the training class and then resign before you've worked for them for a year, they'll expect you to pay them back for the training to the tune of $1500! It's worth if if you can hang in there, but if you decide to leave before a year is up that could put a serious dent in your wallet.

There is a very long learning curve in dialysis. It takes 6 months to a year to get comfortable. That could be why they are asking for someone with experience. They need someone who can jump in there and do the job well. When I was in the learning curve I felt that I was more of a hinderance than a help to my clinic. I am so grateful to my boss for putting up with me while I was learning. I'm sure I was a major PITA to everyone.

Ha, ha, not where I come from. I used to work in an acute unit. The company I worked for lost its contract with the hospital to the other big company. The new company was so desperate to hire, that NONE of its staff had Dx experience. Bad idea. Years later, I went to work for that company, still nobody had experience. They were and still are so desperate for nurses that they will hire any nurse with a license that's willing to try. It seriously sucks for the patients, but is great for nurses wishing to make career changes. I was so disgusted with the care that patients were receiving under this company that I quit after 3 months with them.