What about when the dialysis nurse is sick?

[RightSide]

In this evening's dialysis session, the nurse who was working on me had one heck of a nasty cold--and she admitted it.  Sneezing, coughing, the whole nine yards. 

I admit I'm still a newbie at this, but I thought that a nurse who has something contagious like that isn't supposed to be working in close proximity to patients until the symptoms have subsided at least?

Is that not true?  She wasn't even wearing a mask, just one of those face shields.  I'm supposed to go back into the hospital for prostate surgery in two weeks, so I don't need to get really sick when I'm supposed to be having surgery.

Do you just grin and bear it when you're assigned a sick nurse like that, or do you complain, or what?

[Wallyz]

I have asked for another tech.  This si another benefit of being at home.

[okarol]

Good God! If that had happened in our center I would have told her to steer clear of Jenna - that's just unacceptable. A cold for a kidney patient can be bad news. I would call the charge nurse or manager and ask what their standard practice is - and if they don't know - they better write up a procedure and train their staff to stay home when they are sick!

[aharris2]

holy shit sherlock!!!!!  if that would've happened in my center i would've gotten the bitch fired never mind just the shield wear a mask you moron or is it moronette? well whatever , next time it happens, don't stand for it God knows we go through a lot of shit already.

cheers

Rolando

[karen547]

Eww that would be so gross and unprofessional if that happened at my center! I have seen patients with colds coughing and sneezing and also puking which is bad enough!

[thegrammalady]

i raised 4 kids and never caught anything. now i get every little bug that comes along. the last time i had a stomach virus, the hospitalized me for 3 days. that nurse should have known better!

[RightSide]

Thank you.  That's what I thought too:  The hospital has signs all over the place saying to patients "If you are coughing, notify a nurse.  You must wear a mask."  But in their dialysis center, they let a nurse walk around sneezing and coughing like she has the flu or something???

I got very upset.  I'm embarrassed that I raised my voice, but tied up to the dialysis machine, unable to move, I felt really frustrated and angry about this.

That MUST have been a violation of hospital rules somewhere.  Heck, I would have been willing to PAY that nurse a full day's salary out of my own pocket, if she would have just gone home and not spread her germs to over a dozen kidney patients!

[nursewratchet]

Oh Hell No!!!  Nobody should be working if they have fever, cough, or anything remotely contagious she should have called in.  Maybe she thought she was being dedicated, and wanted to prove it, or maybe she was just needing money, or was too stupid to think about the risk to patients.  Either way, if she in fact came to work in that condition, she should have been sent immediatly home.  Many, many, many days, I step in to be the tch, or Nurse if I need to send someone home.   Thats GROSS!  You can certainly ask for someone else to put you on and monitor you.   

[okarol]

I blame the center manager for not training her properly.
And the charge nurse for not noticing and sending her home.
It takes all of the staff to work together to protect the patients.

[cris]

this is a big NO, NO, NO for Mom. with kidney disease, your immune system is gone. I, myself will send the nurse home. It's my life after all.
please don't let this happen again.

[RightSide]

When I mentioned it to my renal social worker, she was pretty breezy about it: 

"We won't let a nurse treat you if she has a REALLY BAD contagious illness.  But a cold???  Oh, everybody gets colds.  You have to sort of put up with it."

Of course, if a nurse presents with sneezing and coughing, how am I supposed to know if that's a cold, or the flu, or bubonic plague?  Am I supposed to diagnose the nurse right there in the dialysis center?

That sort of breezy attitude might well cause me to fire that dialysis center and switch to DaVita. 

[Joe Paul]

When I mentioned it to my renal social worker, she was pretty breezy about it: 
That sort of breezy attitude might well cause me to fire that dialysis center and switch to DaVita. 

Going to DaVita would be like jumping from the frying pan, to the flame. While I don't have first hand experience, I have never heard any good about the organization.

[monrein]

I would ask the nurse to please put on a mask and gloves before approaching me.  We can be fairly pleasant but firmly insist on protecting ourselves from further misery.  I would also let that social worker know that her explanation about the nurse's illness displays a faulty understanding of what we go through as patients.  Obviously we face the risk of catching colds just by leaving the house or having visitors but a sick nurse in close proximity is a risk we should not have to take.

I have a cold right now and I use sanitizer gel constantly and make sure to use my cell phone, not the D clinic's phone, even though they wipe everything down thoroughly (I've watched) between patients.