Trouble at the Center

[frankswife]

Frank has pretty good nurses for the most part at his center. Except for this one who for the sake of this discussion I will call Miss Ratched. Miss Ratched is a fill-in nurse from Florida (we're in NY) who is now returning to Fla. Frank seems to draw Miss R. everytime and she has not been able to get the needles in his fistula ONCE. Every other nurse gets in at least one usable needle and most of them get both. This last time around, Miss R. inserted a needle, began wiggling it around and blew the vein. Frank (very nicely) told her to take it it out and just use the catheter. Towards the end of the session, Frank told Miss R. he was having a bad cramp in his leg. Miss R told him to wait a minute and proceeded to take 3 or 4 others off thier machines, ignoring him. Frank lost it. He yelled at her. He admitted to using the f bomb and informed her how sorry he felt for the entire state of Florida with her going back down there. He refused to let her near him and made another nurse take him off the machine. He made a complaint to the unit secretary on the way out. He says the social worker was right there the whole time and never came over or said a word to him. He is nervous about going back now. He feels bad about subjecting the other patients and nurses to the whole thing and he's afraid they'll kick him out. Can they?




TOPIC MOVED to appropriate section - Bajanne, Moderator

[MightyMike]

They shouldn't be able to kick him out for making a complaint but if it's anything like "the village" Davita then they will make something up to destroy his credibility making it look like he is a trouble maker to get rid of him.  Best wishes.

[Rerun]

If a patient is cramping the nurse or someone should be right there to shut off his UF and try and help him.  I'm sure the other patients were going.... "You go dude.... send her back to Florida".

[frankswife]

SHE'S BACK! Nurse Ratched has returned! She must have gotten kicked out of Florida. WTH! I told Frank he better stand up for himself and keep that b**ch away from hm. Just in case, I'm going into pitbull mode and am going to pay a little preemptive visit to the center.

[Speedy1wrc]

I found that in center, complaining once does absolutely nothing. I had a similar episode with a tech and complained, and told them I never wanted him again. I was upset but politely verbal with them. A week or so later I got him again and I told him I didn't want him right to his face. Another nurse put me on but I had to go back to the head nurse and complain again. She reacted like she had never heard my first complaint even though I had talked to her before.

The next few treatments I could tell that the word had gotten around that I complained. All the other nurses were nervously tip toeing around me. They were a bit standoffish too.

One of the many reasons I went to Home Hemo.

I also found the social worker even though she always told me she would take care of any problems, was useless. That was a problem with that center. The center I am now associated with is fabulous. Everyone takes very good care of the patients. That's something to consider if that center doesn't work for you. If it's possible you can always go to another place.

Stand your ground!

[Dman73]

'

[SKS]

I'll post here for continuity of subject hopefully others will spot   we are snowbirds  in FL the attitude here is similar to what you described of the visiting nurse.  They aren't the caring friendly "community"  we experienced  "up north"    checking I found techs here receive on the job training.  My SIL  took about 2 years schooling AND a state test plus I believe an internship   Little empathy here

[Michael Murphy]

Look up CMS online.  It's the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.  This is the place to file complaints.  They are the 600 pound gorilla in the medical world.  When Joan Rivers was killed in New York it was CMS that closed the clinic.  It is the one agency that the can trerrorize clinic managers.  Finally it's your body and you can always ask that the nurse stays away from you.