Why are dialysis Techs so incompetent?!?

[Zach]

Hopefully, with the new national requirement that all patient care technicians be certified by April 2010, we might find fewer incompetence among the rank and file.

[Neo]

Hopefully, with the new national requirement that all patient care technicians be certified by April 2010, we might find fewer incompetence among the rank and file.

Yea we can only hope, at least its a start.. If the patients become more vocal things will change.. I just feel awful for the many other people who aren't as educated who get mistreated, and im sure everyone on here has seen many people taken advantage of at these places, because they didn't speak up or know they could. Its a huge problem..

[Wallyz]

Hey Wallyz... Are you the new Davita Spokesperson? They would love to have you.
THE NEW DAVITA SLOGAN:" Come to Davita and Suck it up and do everything yourself, what, did you expect us to know something?"

I don't get get you neo.  Here you are, acknowledging that that the largest provider has a lot of less than competent people, and you are still on me for wanting to do things my self?  Unless you have a plan for educating and weeding out bad techs, you don't have any way to make the situation better.

If you don't want the situation any better, so that you have something to bitch about, that's fine. For everyone who wants a solution, they need to be the solution.

[KICKSTART]

Neo , when i started Hemo (after doing pd for nearly 5 years) i was being treated like a numpty and i spoke up, only to be warned be careful what i ask for ! Yeah honestly !

Wallyz , while we would all like to be in charge of our own destiny , some of us CANNOT . Why cant you just accept this ? I did nearly 5 years of home dialysis pd ,but since starting on hemo all my rights have been stripped away, im not allowed to touch anything . Do you know how frustrating that is ? Im neither stupid or ignorant , its a case of RULES are RULES . So its not as black and white as take care of your own shit as you so eloquently put it !

[Wallyz]

Kicky, I get it   hat people are trying to disempower and intimidate you, and I am angry and frustrated for you.  I do believe that you can work your way out of the bind you are in.   I just don't want you to give up on controlling your own health and your own body.

[KICKSTART]

Wallyz , i fight all the time but believe me they dont like it ! They treat like you get kidney failure and brain failure all in the same go !!! 

[Stoday]

My hospital sends out a questionnaire from time-to-time to monitor patient satisfaction. With a pre-paid envelope, it's anonymous.

Asks you to rate very poor/poor/satisfactory/good/verygood. Issues include confidence in nurse, doctor, explanations, courtesy, waiting time etc.

And boxes for suggestions.

[KICKSTART]

Ah ,we get a handheld contraption every other day to press buttons on like that, as the hospital are not meeting targets/standards ! I wonder why ?

[Dana Renee]

Its true there are some incompetent techs, but not all are this way. I believe the medical field takes a very special person to do it. There are plenty of kind, patient, caring people in the medical field and these are the people who do the job becuase they love it, they love helping and caring for others. And then there are those people in the medical field who simply do the job cuz its a paycheck, these people should not be in the medical field. I must admit I myself could not do it, I cant stand bllod and that kind of stuff and I have absolutely NO patience. I also know that here in Indiana anyone can be a tech, and I think this is very wrong. My best friend, though I love her dearly, never knew a thing about the medical filed in her life and she just walked into a center here in Indiana and got a job. She said all she had to do was kinda job shadow the other techs for 3 weeks and take a couple written tests and then after just 3 short weeks of "training" she got to stick her first patient. I mean she does her job well and she loves her patients but as a dislysis patient myself I dont want someone sticking me that has never worked in the medical field before and simply learned by watching other techs for 3 short weeks.

[CybeR]

I just wonder why they cant hire someone who is qualified first of all. I mean I have to think with all the money they are getting from diaysis has gotta pay for some better more competent and knowledgeable staff. It really seems that I cacn only find a select few members of any dialysis facility that seem to actually be qualified and care.

It's funny you say this. This is exactly how I feel. Most of the techs at my center are complete morons. Well that's not fair to the techs because honestly I feel the same way about the nurses and all but 2 of the doctors.

Nurses right off the bat, are all foreign. Which I have no problems with. I myself am from a family of immigrants. The problem is they don't speak English well enough to handle some of my concerns. One example of something that happened last week. I was starting to feel cramps coming on and I asked the nurse for saline. She pointed at the saline and said "yes saline" and walked away. Instead of getting frustrated though I couldn't help it giggle. The guy next to me laughed and shook his head.

The doctors are not much better. Like I said with the exception of 2 of them who are always on the ball. They are obviously very knowledgeable and there isn't a question I can ask them to which they will not have an answer for.

/end rant 

[CybeR]

I agree that we deserve competent care, but i also realize that we will never get competent care.   We can accept that or not.

I would suggest never accepting anything less than perfection.

[RightSide]

I just wonder why they cant hire someone who is qualified first of all.

In this economy, they should be able to.

We've got a 9.7% unemployment rate.
No one is irreplaceable.
And there would probably be fifty applicants for each tech position.

[Wallyz]

Are you kidding?  It's a rare person who can handle the emotional load of watching people die, plus needles, plus being around smelly sick people.

(not you guys, but you know the folks I'm talkign about)

I would suggest never accepting anything less than perfection.

One example of something that happened last week. I was starting to feel cramps coming on and I asked the nurse for saline. She pointed at the saline and said "yes saline" and walked away. Instead of getting frustrated though I couldn't help it giggle.

Reconcile those for me, please.

[RightSide]

Every patient has their own unique needs, and every patient has their own priorities.

I still have a hemo catheter.  (Fistula operations have failed so far.)

So for me, the absolute top priority is keeping that catheter site clean and free of contamination.

I won't mind if a nurse forgets to give me my Venofer (iron) or Zemplar (Vitamin D) infusions once or twice.  Missing a dose won't kill me.  Even a problem wih the machine that shortens my dialysis session once or twice won't kill me.

But contaminating my catheter site could kill me.  And I have put my foot down on that issue:  The techs are going to be as careful about my catheter site as I am myself. 

[nursewratchet]

What state are you in?  Can the Techs put a catheter on?  They can't in most states.  Can't touch it at all in Texas.

[okarol]

http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=15497.0 What requirements does your state have for training and certification of techs?

[pdpatty]

The center I use has improved immensely since Marshall,the director,left. All the techs are in better spirits and the nurses seem to smile more.

All our techs are certified. They are there if the machine buzzes ,they ask if they can do anything for us.

I think a lot has to do with the rapore they have with the doctors. Dr Cosintino and Dr Emily are great.

[CybeR]

What state are you in?  Can the Techs put a catheter on?  They can't in most states.  Can't touch it at all in Texas.

Same here in California. Thank god!

[RightSide]

Most of the techs at my dialysis center ARE competent, and even caring.

We do have a few bad apples, about which I've posted before.

However, at my dialysis center which is part of a major hospital in Massachusetts, the morale of the staff has suffered, as management eliminated the company matching part of their 403(b) investment plans, as cutbacks during this bad economy.  (A 403(b) plan is for not-for-profit organizations what a 401(k) plan is for profit-making companies.  It works similarly.)

If management is going to treat the staff like crap, the staff is going to figure that doing an excellent job isn't going to be rewarded anyway, so why bother.

An even worse management decision by the hospital was to eliminate separate sick days for the staff, and combine sick days and vacation days into one "time bank."  As a result, a nurse or tech who calls in sick for a day, gets one less day of vacation time. This is a disincentive to calling in sick, and an incentive for a nurse or tech to come to work sick with a cold--and spread it to the patients.

For a hospital to penalize their staff for calling in sick with some infection is absolutely, criminally, STUPID.  They should provide a financial incentive for a staff member to stay home and not spread their cold or flu to others.  Instead, the "time bank" creates a disincentive.

[CybeR]

Most of the techs at my dialysis center ARE competent, and even caring.

We do have a few bad apples, about which I've posted before.

However, at my dialysis center which is part of a major hospital in Massachusetts, the morale of the staff has suffered, as management eliminated the company matching part of their 403(b) investment plans, as cutbacks during this bad economy.  (A 403(b) plan is for not-for-profit organizations what a 401(k) plan is for profit-making companies.  It works similarly.)

If management is going to treat the staff like crap, the staff is going to figure that doing an excellent job isn't going to be rewarded anyway, so why bother.

An even worse management decision by the hospital was to eliminate separate sick days for the staff, and combine sick days and vacation days into one "time bank."  As a result, a nurse or tech who calls in sick for a day, gets one less day of vacation time. This is a disincentive to calling in sick, and an incentive for a nurse or tech to come to work sick with a cold--and spread it to the patients.

For a hospital to penalize their staff for calling in sick with some infection is absolutely, criminally, STUPID.  They should provide a financial incentive for a staff member to stay home and not spread their cold or flu to others.  Instead, the "time bank" creates a disincentive.

That's great man. Good to hear. I think my problem may be regional. Most of the techs and nurses at my center immigrants and have obviously not been here long. Also, since they are mostly all from the same country they have no problems communicating with themselves. However, when I need something I am limited to 1 or 2 nurses and a couple of techs.

[Lillupie]

I agree with you. When i was on hemo, for a short time. My machine would go off and they would teach me to shut off the alarms because the techs got tired of coming over to me every two seconds (my percath was verry sensitive), and i got yelled at once for touching it. Heck, i got yelled at for wanting the machine to face me, well atleast so that i can look at it.

Lisa

The answer is to learn to stick yourself, and to understand how the machine works.  I stick myself, even in center, (You can do that, you know!) and when the machine beeps, I look at what's going on, and make my own adjustments.

Don't whine about the help.  Take care of your own shit.

[hurlock1]

At my center they're not incompetent. As far as canulating and stringing the machine, they're so trained, that they could do their job in the dark. The nurses are the ones that aren't necessarily incompetent, but slow and un-confident.

[MissyKew]

What is it with techs not wanting to turn the machine so you can see it?

My biggest problem is one tech absolutely refusing to put the bleach rag they throw onto the bottom of the machine for cleanup after the patient is off the machine into a sealed bag.  It is a harsh chemical and it makes me wheeze and for some damned reason she thinks I am asking to be treated special or something.  The truth is, bleach is a harsh chemical and those rags shouldn't be left to fume up the place near any patient.  We have had words and I have complained about her twice now.  If it happens again, I will tell them if she can't get it through her head that bleach and i don't mix, then she can take care of other patients.

[Pam]

Very seldom do have an alarm. If it happens it's in the first 5 min or so and my tech knows she has to flip the aterial needle. I wanted to see the machine so I knew what my blood pressure was. when I asked the tech she said she would have to clear it with the Office manager. That didn't work. Her answer was  "Fresenius procedure." My Neph is head honcho. When I asked him he said no problem, he wished more patients cared about their own treatment. My machine is always at an angle now. We just have to learn to keep speaking up. If at first you don't succeed, try try try again.

Pam