Snafu worries dialysis patient

Snafu worries dialysis patient
Local News
By SARAH DEETH , EXAMINER STAFF WRITER
Posted 13 hours ago

A dialysis patient at the Peter- borough Regional Health Centre is looking for answers after her dialysis machine shut down without warning and there wasn't a technician available to fix the problem.

Sharron Shepstone visits the dialysis unit three times a week, for appointments lasting 3 1/2 hours.

She said she's never had any problems before.

But her appointment Nov. 3 was anything but smooth.

Shepstone said she had about one hour left in her treatment when she looked at the dialysis machine and realized the pump had stopped.

Nothing had signalled that the machine had stopped, she said.

"There were no whistles, no bells, no anything."

Shepstone signalled the nurse, and, with the help of another nurse, they tried to turn the machine back on.

The pair made repeated calls for a technician, she said.

While the nurses remained calm, Shepstone said she could sense their panic.

"It was just the look in their eyes," she said.

As she lay there, hooked up to a stopped dialysis machine, the nurses inserted a crank and began hand-cranking the blood that remained in the machine back into her body.

Shepstone said they told her they were concerned that her blood would begin clotting.

After the ordeal, Shepstone learned there weren't any tech- nicians available that day.

She began asking questions, she said, and was told that one was sent to deal with an emer- gency in Lindsay and the person looking after the dialysis depart- ment was sick that day.

Shepstone stressed that the nurses in the unit have always taken good care of her and have always been professional.

But she finds it appalling that patients were being treated despite the fact that there weren't any technicians avail- able to deal with an emergency.

Had she known that there weren't any technicians there, she said, she likely wouldn't have followed through with her appointment and would have rescheduled.

Shepstone wants to see some changes made to prevent this from happening to anyone else.

A technician needs to be on duty whenever a dialysis patient is receiving treatment, she said, and patients should be assured that proper maintenance is being done on dialysis machines.

Medical personnel working in the dialysis unit should be trained to respond to any problems and emergencies with the machine, she said.

Shepstone wrote a letter outlining her concerns to PRHC president and CEO Ken Tremblay, all hospital board members, Health Minister Deb Matthews, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan and Peterborough MPP Jeff Leal.

Letters were emailed, mailed through Canada Post or hand-delivered, she said.

The only one she has heard back from, she said, was Leal.

The MPP told her that he called Tremblay, she said, and asked the hospital CEO to phone her.

It has been a month and Shepstone said she hasn't heard from anyone else.

When contacted by The Examiner, Darlene Mack, with patient relations at PRHC, said she couldn't discuss the details or specifics of the situation because it involved a patient.

Technicians are available on weekdays in the dialysis unit, she said, and are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The dialysis machines do have a regular maintenance schedule, she said.

A technician's primary role is repair and maintenance of equipment, she said, but they provide technical support, not clinical support.

Anytime a patient makes a complaint, she said, it goes to the manager of that department.

The manager would do any follow-up required, she said.

The incident in question is reviewed, she said, and any recommendations made following that are shared with the patient.

Mack said complaints are typically responded to within 24 hours.

sdeeth@peterboroughexaminer.com

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