Hello everyone this is only my second post in almost a month, but with good reason. I just had a baby girl and she takes up most of my time as of late! Anyways that's not what I wanted to talk about, nurses however are! Why is it that most nurses treat you like you are a nobody, like "why are you wasting your time." I go to incenter dialysis every Mon, Wed, Fri, and it seems like we are cattle being herded in and out. They don't seem to care, they just want to get you on and off faster so THEY can go home! Just for once I want someone who treats me like I am a HUMAN and not a steer! I'm sure there has to be nurses who take their job a little more seriously, I mean come on they aren't working at a McDonald's or anything, just show some compassion!
You will never understand the stress of working in dialysis.
You will never understand the stress of working in dialysis. Especially if you work for one of the big companies like FMC or DaVita. The pressure put on you to work fast, cheap, and still give quality care is unreal. They cut staff so that the staff that are there are overworked and don't have time to treat you like a human. If you take more than a set amount of time to put a patient on, you catch hell, if you take more than a set amount of time to get a patient off and another on, you catch hell. If your the RN you are doing med reviews, calling other doctors offices, making appointments for xrays and such, making rounds with the doc, passing meds, answering the techs questions, etc, etc, etc. Please don't say "find another job". Its not that easy for nurses just like its not that easy for you in the private sector to just "find another job". Oh, and lets not forget the non-compliant patient that takes up gobs of your time on a daily basis because they won't adhere to the doctors orders. Granted, that is only 10 percent or so of the dialysis population, but those 10 percent take up 40 percent of your time. Yea, I am out of dialysis, and glad that I am. Please, don't blame the nurse for everything. sometimes you have to look at the chair beside you, or even, God Forbid, in the mirror. Most of you on this board are squared away, responsible, and take responsibility for your actions. But please know that many don't and the nurse has to try to fix a problem for someone that don't care about it themselves. I hope this all makes sense.
It is my humble opinion that the US Government should step in and stop the dialysis providers from cutting staffing and services to the dialysis population. There should be national standards of no more than 3:1 for patient/staff ratios. We need a bunch of politicians or politicians family members to suffer the harsh reality of renal failure, then, maybe, there would be some changes in the US.SCREW DaVita and their "cost cutting" managers!
Ya flexibility is very important in a dialysis unit when it comes to scheduling! I mean, in my case, I was working in a Hot Deli inside a grocery store where I have a union protecting me so I don't get fired. Then with the fistula the medical team told me I can't lift more than 10lbs so I realized I could not work in the same position anymore but still wanted to be in the store with the union. So I changed positions but still work in the store. Now the store is working with me by giving me the same hours so that isn't a problem in my case. But now that I have to change shifts but don't know which one yet (7am or 11am) for buttonhole, I worry about medical appointments that are scheduled but could not be made earlierthat a few months in the future . What happens if I am changed to a new shift and then I saw well that day I can't dialysize at that shift because I already have this one appointment (the appointment can only be on Wed but that is also a dialysis day). I need a dialysis unit that is flexible and thankfully mine IS!
Quote from: angieskidney on September 29, 2006, 12:13:39 AMYa flexibility is very important in a dialysis unit when it comes to scheduling! I mean, in my case, I was working in a Hot Deli inside a grocery store where I have a union protecting me so I don't get fired. Then with the fistula the medical team told me I can't lift more than 10lbs so I realized I could not work in the same position anymore but still wanted to be in the store with the union. So I changed positions but still work in the store. Now the store is working with me by giving me the same hours so that isn't a problem in my case. But now that I have to change shifts but don't know which one yet (7am or 11am) for buttonhole, I worry about medical appointments that are scheduled but could not be made earlierthat a few months in the future . What happens if I am changed to a new shift and then I saw well that day I can't dialysize at that shift because I already have this one appointment (the appointment can only be on Wed but that is also a dialysis day). I need a dialysis unit that is flexible and thankfully mine IS! Why cant you lift more than 10lbs? I lift 10kgs every second night to fill up my dialysate bottle. The surgeon even told me to go and lift weights!
Why is it that most nurses treat you like you are a nobody, like "why are you wasting your time." I go to incenter dialysis every Mon, Wed, Fri, and it seems like we are cattle being herded in and out. They don't seem to care, they just want to get you on and off faster so THEY can go home! Just for once I want someone who treats me like I am a HUMAN and not a steer! I'm sure there has to be nurses who take their job a little more seriously, I mean come on they aren't working at a McDonald's or anything, just show some compassion!
Sorry.. "footy" = football, as in Australian Rules (not like that American thing) and not like european football (a.k.a. soccer).