meeting with someone important this week

[dialysisbiller]

on wednesday, i will be in a meeting that i can ask pretty much any question... what would you ask a senior VP for your dialysis company? and as a patient what one thing would you ask or want to see changed at your center?

i actually have a couple in mind, one has to do with therapy dogs as greeters on a volunteer basis... any thoughts on that? i don't work at a center but at the business office and am interested in helping patients somehow (just not sure how and am hoping patients here can give me some ideas)

[Bill Peckham]

I'm definitely pro dog. I assume at some point I'll have an assist dog to be there during selfdialysis, but I am not sure all patients would want to see a dog in the waiting room (I would, if I had to spend time waiting for a chair or ride). The issue to remember is that people have to come to dialysis there is no way to opt out of unit wide bingo, popcorn Friday or visits by Bobo the clown. And some people are absolutely anti dog.

What can be done is to make the unit more like a library and less like a video arcade. This primarily means mandatory headphone use for the TVs and separate pathway and task lighting. In my experience DaVita units are notorious for leaving banks of florescent lights on over the dialysis chair for the duration of the treatment. That is bad design. These lights need to be separately switched, while separate pathway lighting need the egg crate covers to prevent side glare. The final piece is that alarms are answered and muted promptly. Calm. Units should try to be calm.

[Zach]

What can be done is to make the unit more like a library and less like a video arcade. This primarily means mandatory headphone use for the TVs and separate pathway and task lighting. In my experience DaVita units are notorious for leaving banks of florescent lights on over the dialysis chair for the duration of the treatment. That is bad design. These lights need to be separately switched, while separate pathway lighting need the egg crate covers to prevent side glare. The final piece is that alarms are answered and muted promptly. Calm. Units should try to be calm.

Excellent point Bill.

[Rerun]

I want to make sure these Tech are competent and tested at least annually and that protocol is used by EVERY tech and Nurse and not just when someone is looking. 

Maybe have Secret Shoppers for dialysis patients.  I will be one.  I'll fly to different centers and be a patient and then write them up for non-compliance!

                                 

Anyway, my real question would be on competency of the employees.  I honestly have been asking myself lately "Where Do they get these people"?

[Wallyz]

What are we doing to increase the number of patients at home, doing extended therapy dialysis?

[Chris]

In college, every semester we have to give a review of our instructor using a 1 thru 5 scale and then and area for either complaints or praises of a certain person. In the unit I was going to though, they never wore name tags and you had to learn their names by either them telling you and having to try to remember it or listen when someone calls for them..

Then there is the dietician, those darn smiley face reports! We are adults, not kids, give use the real report in numbers!

Billingwise, how about a statement for patients, unless that is done already. I never got one since it was billed to Medicare, but reading some of the Medicare records would be nice to match up with a statement, sort of like a debit card purchase and aligning it up with a bank statement online.

[Stacy Without An E]

How about another layer of compliance for patients?  I'm speaking of being forced to be tied down in a chair next to patients who fail to shower.  Or wear their shoes.  Or scream into their cell phones about their anal warts.  Or throw their feces all over the bathroom walls.

You get the idea.

There should be certain requirements that speak to common sense and courtesy.

Try putting up with weekly treatments at my clinic with the animalistic antics I'm forced to deal with and you'll demand these type of rules.

[monrein]

How about another layer of compliance for patients?  I'm speaking of being forced to be tied down in a chair next to patients who fail to shower.  Or wear their shoes.  Or scream into their cell phones about their anal warts.  Or throw their feces all over the bathroom walls.

Good God Stacy, is this for real?  Staff should definitely be trying to put some basic standards in place.  I've never experienced anything remotely similar to what you describe and I have a pretty good sense of smell.  The worst I've had to complain about was feeling like I was working in an office setting in Romania since a patient talked in a very loud voice to his mother and assorted other relatives for close to two solid hours.  At some point he was on two phones at once, his cell and the clinic's land line.  I told him that I found it ridiculous and inconsiderate, he apologized, said I should have told him earlier I was unhappy and that was it.  There's also of course the perennial issue of men who dribble but that seems to be a law of nature or something.

They should tell  patients that a failure to be scrupulously scrubbed while dialyzing will definitely lead to premature death (possibly at the hands of a fellow patient but they needn't add the last part)!!!!!

[dialysisbiller]

wow stacy i'm somewhat speechless after that one.

i'll be putting together a list to bring in with me tomorrow and give an update as soon as i can

i believe the centers are supposed to do surveys at the center level. if you don't get one, let me know and let me know the center name please

[dialysisbiller]

What can be done is to make the unit more like a library and less like a video arcade. This primarily means mandatory headphone use for the TVs and separate pathway and task lighting. In my experience DaVita units are notorious for leaving banks of florescent lights on over the dialysis chair for the duration of the treatment. That is bad design. These lights need to be separately switched, while separate pathway lighting need the egg crate covers to prevent side glare. The final piece is that alarms are answered and muted promptly. Calm. Units should try to be calm.

i know there are some anti dog people out there but if you liked it the volunteer could be there for those who do like it (at least that was my thought on it)









EDITED:Fixed quote tag errors-kitkatz,Moderator

[kitkatz]

Oh my God! The lights in dialysis centers are so ridiculous. Why do I need a spotlight right over me for four to eight hours?

[kellyt]

"And now, please welcome to the dialysis floor, Kitkaz!!!!!"          Hey, if they're going to put you in the "spotlight", take the time to sing and dance a little!   

[okarol]

Why do I need a spotlight right over me?

"Where were you on the night of February 5th??"


Seriously though, I agree with others that the center needs to be comfortable, safe and user friendly. Dialysis patients are people on necessary life support, but they are also your customers and should be treated with dignity. Staff should get good training regarding dialysis, and some customer service and sensitivity training too.

[Dan.Larrabee]

How about turning up the heat.

[kitkatz]

Amen, turn up that heat! So I want the lighting fixed and the heat turned up, not much to ask for, plus the dignity I deserve as a human being.

[dialysisbiller]

lights dimmer, heat "ON"... check!

I'm not a nurse but with some medical training(tiny bit) in my background as far as sterile invironments are concerned, heat breeds bacteria, that might be why it's not as warm as you'd like it to be. Perhaps a nurse can answer that question better than me.

I think if you understand why things are done the way they are, it might make you feel better as a patient, specially if it comes to stuff like that.

Not sure why you gotta be under such lighting and all i can think is for visibility but once you're set up and machine running i would think the lights can be dimmed a bit over each chair...... again, a nurse who works in a center might be able to help with that

you guys make me want to go from the business office to the center to work now! i feel like i'm from another planet when it comes to patient care.

gosh, i was going to say something REALLY wishy washy and then everyone woulda thought i'm such a sap.... but keep the ideas coming, who knows, maybe someday i'll get to travel to centers and report up to someone to change somethings and really impact patients on a personal level.

I know you guys think that these bigger companies are all about the money etc etc, but there are others like me who want to make a difference, no one asked to be on dialysis the least i can do is try to make it better. (oh look at me, all silly tired and rambling on and on)

[glitter]

how about no screaming across the room to other employees? At my husbands unit they seem gleeful when they wake the patients up. They slam garbage can lids, laugh hysterically etc. when the patients complain, they are pretty much ignored. He was actually told by staff one day that it wasn't a place to sleep. No consideration for people who feel ill at all. We live in a rural area so he doesn't have too many center choices, and this is the only one that offers evenings for 80 miles so he is stuck.

[Chris]

What can be done is to make the unit more like a library and less like a video arcade. This primarily means mandatory headphone use for the TVs and separate pathway and task lighting. In my experience DaVita units are notorious for leaving banks of florescent lights on over the dialysis chair for the duration of the treatment. That is bad design. These lights need to be separately switched, while separate pathway lighting need the egg crate covers to prevent side glare. The final piece is that alarms are answered and muted promptly. Calm. Units should try to be calm.

i know there are some anti dog people out there but if you liked it the volunteer could be there for those who do like it (at least that was my thought on it)









EDITED:Fixed quote tag errors-kitkatz,Moderator

The thing is, these dogs won't be loose. The volunteer can sit in a corner with the dog sitting or laying to be petted or nuzzle up against you. While in a hospital setting, if it is a small dog or cat, the leash will be taken off so the pet can lay on the bed next to you with the door closed or slightly closed all the way. Basically a center would need to read up on what volunteer therapy dogs do and do not do before making a rash decision. The pet's safety is also a consideration. Before any patient could have access, the pet must be acclimated with the settings and smells.  But I think this would be hard to do to be fair with other patient time slots

[pam49]

Some of the techs at my dialysis center move soooo slow like we have all day and nothing else to do.One time it took a tech almost 30 minutes to hook me up.I have a port in my chest I could have done it in less than 10.They just kept walking away to do other stupid things.

[kitkatz]

Hate it when they do that! Hook me up dammit and get on with the torture already!

[okarol]

Some of the techs at my dialysis center move soooo slow like we have all day and nothing else to do.One time it took a tech almost 30 minutes to hook me up.I have a port in my chest I could have done it in less than 10.They just kept walking away to do other stupid things.

Yes, but if YOU are late, oh boy! No forgiveness.

[twirl]

I would like to do away with the bone bucks and the pre-k activities.
I would like notural dialysis.
I would like to eat a snack.
I would like to sit by someone I like.
I would like to be able to use a lap top.
I would like to decide what rating of a movie I watch- R is not too mature for me
I would like to have techs who really care about us and do not complain if they have to fold out blankets---- which they stopped doing--
and the list could go on but this is depressing me
oh, I'd like my husband to be able to come in and talk to me----- no visitors allowed rather patients are being hooked up or not

[kidney_beanz]

how about no screaming across the room to other employees? At my husbands unit they seem gleeful when they wake the patients up. They slam garbage can lids, laugh hysterically etc. when the patients complain, they are pretty much ignored. He was actually told by staff one day that it wasn't a place to sleep. No consideration for people who feel ill at all. We live in a rural area so he doesn't have too many center choices, and this is the only one that offers evenings for 80 miles so he is stuck.

Hi glitter!  I think we live in the same area (I searched for other members in Florida)  .  The clinic where I dialyze can also be quite noisy at times!  If the staff members aren't helpful regarding your husband's complaint, you should talk to the administrator or the nurse in charge.  I've had problems at the clinic in the past that couldn't be resolved by a staff member, but the charge nurse took my complaint more seriously.  I usually manage to snooze despite the noise, wearing ear plugs sure helps! 

[glitter]

He did write a letter once when it was intolerable, and it did help for a few weeks, but  if he has to stay constanly on their case- it would just become another source of anxiety for him- its easier to just bear it. Its just that he shouldn't have to. Where are you from in florida?

[okarol]

how about no screaming across the room to other employees? At my husbands unit they seem gleeful when they wake the patients up. They slam garbage can lids, laugh hysterically etc. when the patients complain, they are pretty much ignored. He was actually told by staff one day that it wasn't a place to sleep. No consideration for people who feel ill at all. We live in a rural area so he doesn't have too many center choices, and this is the only one that offers evenings for 80 miles so he is stuck.

Hi glitter!  I think we live in the same area (I searched for other members in Florida)  .  The clinic where I dialyze can also be quite noisy at times!  If the staff members aren't helpful regarding your husband's complaint, you should talk to the administrator or the nurse in charge.  I've had problems at the clinic in the past that couldn't be resolved by a staff member, but the charge nurse took my complaint more seriously.  I usually manage to snooze despite the noise, wearing ear plugs sure helps! 

kidney_beanz - please post an introduction - thank you.

okarol/admin