Do I complain or not?

[Rerun]

I hold my own!

One step closer to sticking myslef!  HA   

[angieskidney]

I wish I knew who to talk to about the clamps. I mean in my unit they are not tight on us at all but the nurses and their tape .. holy crap you would think they were terrified a tornado was gonna come for us and they had to strap our bandage on tight!!

[kitkatz]

They all know, no clamps and no tape all the way around the arm. I still tell them what the surgeon said to me.  One tech told me I could tell the surgeon to stuff it.  Haha!  Not me,  I loved my vascular surgeon. Too bad he has retired now and his partner retired, too.  Who knows who I will see next time I need a graft put in!  Pray it does not happen soon.  I know what you mean about the tornadoes and the tape.  Shheez! If Dorothy had taped Toto to her the way they tape the bandages to my arm, she would not have gone to OZ!!

[nkviking75]

Ya ours is going to get rid of them too. But you want to know my opinion? Well for me the clamps aren't very tight since my arms are so small. The real culprit are the nurses! They wrap tape around the arm so tight that I KNOW that must NOT be good for the fistula.

So I got these black velcro bands that another patient made and that way I can loosen it when out of the nurses sight.

If I just relied on the clamps I bleed all over. I know this is different with anyone with bigger arms but for me I know that the tape is much tighter than the clamps .. so wouldn't that be more of a worry for any dialysis unit for the longetivity of the fistula??

I think the tape on my clamps leads to more pressure than the clamps.  I've wondered about pressure on the fistula (or in my case, a graft), but then you've got to have some form of pressure to stop the bleeding, don't you?  Is there much difference in potential damage between a clamp and a tight grip from my hand?

[Panda_9]

I think if you are capable of holding your own sites, then I dont see why clamps are needed.

[angieskidney]

I think if you are capable of holding your own sites, then I dont see why clamps are needed.

The nurses in my unit really don't want them to get rid of the clamps because a lot of the patients don't hold it long enough and then bleed all over. But I find myself I have to hold them because the clamps simply aren't tight enough.

[Panda_9]

If they took the time to teach them how to hold and check I dont see how its a problem. Unless they just dont care. After a while you get to know how much time it takes to stop bleeding.

[angieskidney]

If they took the time to teach them how to hold and check I dont see how its a problem. Unless they just dont care. After a while you get to know how much time it takes to stop bleeding.

Think it is a matter more so of not enough staff..

[libran925]

Ugh. I wish I'd known about these stories before.  I thought I was the only one going throught this crap!

My last straw -- the one that propelled me from hemodialysis to peritoneal dialysis -- was when techs would call me if they were running ahead so I could show up early and they could leave work early. But did they ever call me when they were running late?? Or did I show up at my appointed time and have to sit in the !@#$! waiting room. I say complain loudly, complain often. What the heck. Then do it yourself in order to maintain control. It was hellish being at the mercy of one tech in particular who was ALWAYS on her cellphone while dealing with patients. Then there was the time I was a captive audience to a tech who decided to share his religious beliefs with me at length and in detail.

Good luck to us all. 

[kitkatz]

Here we go again.  I go to dialysis tonight.  They shifted a lot of people around the unit and closed one side.  Therefore patients were crowded into chairs tonight and they were getting off late.  I am third shift patient arrive at 3 o'clock to begin dialysis.  I get there and I am told there is a twenty minute wait.   Okay, fine.  Then I find out it is bloodwork day. I ask the center director after thirty minutes of waiting if I was going to run my full time today.  He says yes you will. To make a long story short I finally got onto the machine at 3:45. At 7:20 the tech says time to come off now.  I said I have half an hour to go yet. He says everyone comes off at 7:30.  I said no way am I coming off this machine unless I have done my entire run. You put me on at 3:45.  You have taking a half hour away from my machine sometime tonight! You are doing bloodwork tonight.  You are taking me off half an hour early.  I hollered so loud the floor nurse came over and they gave in.  I almost had to make them call Rudy, the center director, at home and he would have TOLD them to keep me for the half hour.  It was NOT my FAULT I was put on late today it was the centers fault.  So I deserve to run my entire time damn it!
      Also I asked one of the nurses if she could call a doctor and ask for an antibiotic for the sinus infection I have.  I even asked the center director to remind her.  Nothing was done.  Shit. 

Third class citizen here sitting in the back of the short bus!

[Sluff]

Third class citizen here sitting in the back of the short bus!

Hopefully your not all the way to the back.

[scyankee]

Kitkatz,
  Good for YOU!  Bullsh_t them deciding to shorten your run. And to top it off doing it on lab day!
  It infuriates me how late they run. Unbelievable!!!!!!!!  Good thing you made a stink this way your
labs will show that you had all your treatment and will reflect that.  Don't want to be "NON-COMPLIANT"

[raina]

I used to be cold alot, too, but then I discovered these hand warmers.  They retail at 711 and Walgreens for 99c/pair but if you like 'em you can get a case of 480 for $156.  I am still working on my case.  I think I'm gonna do a separate post about these warmers, cuz I'm bored and I really think it might help someone.

[HemoTech]

Hello, I was reading your site here the other night, having just resigned from DUH-Vita and feeling uplifted about my decision after reading some of the comments on this site. I've been a dialysis technician for over 10 yrs and have worked for Fresenius, Gambro, Davita, NNA and SMMC which is a non profit unit. And i can tell you as a Tech all of what you say is true and it happens to one extreme or another in all of these units. All employees are constantly torn between being a good employee and being a good tech or nurse or biomed, etc. I only wish they would use these postings in their training modules. Maybe then we'd get somewhere. However i felt the need to perhaps offer you a bit of insight and answer your questions if i can.

One of the reasons it may feel colder in your unit is that warmer temperatures breed infections faster and dialysis patients already have compromised immune systems as it is from the nature of your ESRD. Like hospitals most dialysis units attempt to keep the clinical areas cooler for this reason. Dialysis patients generally feel much colder from being anemic and also having their blood circulate thru the extracorpeal unit regardless of this. It's one of the reasons most companys offer you blankets, not that they seem to do you all much good, I know. But truly it's not cold in there to torture you, it's there to help with infection control, one helpful suggestion is to wear long johns, they're thin, lightweight and will help keep you warmer.

Sure-seals are very expensive and certain "for profit" company's are going to cut cost and corners anyway the can, often times you can get a doctor's order for gel foam which is essentially the same thing and fill it on your own as an Rx and bring it with you to treatment. But try complaining to the director first... maybe they were just out of stock or a tech was too lazy to restock. It happens, even in the best of circumstances.

Leaving you in a pool of blood is definately not cool. Granted with the use of heprin during treatment a little blood loss can really look like a whole lot, which may or may not be why the tech wasn't overly concerned or panicked. And typically you're not going to catch anything from yourself. Often times the chux pads are also very expensive or at least as employees that's what we're told, and again certain "for profit" companies have a moto to use one per customer, it's a little uncooth but sometimes that's how it is. While i can't advocate as to the rationale of the person that left you sitting in a pool of blood and didn't clean it up... at that point it was probably justified to give you a clean chux and yes you should complain to the director of the unit, in my opion anyway based on the fact that the rapport between staff and patient is lacking and maybe that tech needs a "refresher" from the boss.

Also if you are bleeding that profusely after treatment, despite putting pressure on your access, talk with your nurse and doctor about your heprin dose, perhaps it needs to be adjusted. There's many variables which affect it, anything from blood labs, to infection, antibiotics, other anticoaugulants and human error (too much, to little) so on.

I hope this helps and never ever feel you can't complain or advocate for yourself, you've lived in your body longer than most have been doctors, nurses or technicians, if anything you know it best, so don't let people tell you differently if you're not feeling comfortable with your dialysis treatment.



 

[Sluff]

What an outstanding post.

HemoTech please go to the introduce yourself thread and post your intoduction.

Thank You

Sluff, Administrator

[kitkatz]

I wrote a letter to the director of the unit and she jumped pretty high.  Putting it into writing has definitely made them repond more than just verbal complaints.  I have learned to write it down, then they are required to respond.  Hehehehehe.  Now we have a new director who used to be one of the RNs. Hard to find him lately. I will get him too eventually.  hehehehe.

[Hawkeye]

I willg e thime to evetually.  hehehehe.

Huh? Somebody forgot to use spell check. 

[Joe Paul]

I willg e thime to evetually.  hehehehe.

Huh? Somebody forgot to use spell check. 

I feel the breeze from a  huge swinging stick DUCK!

[kitkatz]

I willg e thime to evetually.  hehehehe.

Huh? Somebody forgot to use spell check. 

Crap!  Okay I fixed it. 

[Hawkeye]

I willg e thime to evetually.  hehehehe.

Huh? Somebody forgot to use spell check. 

Crap!  Okay I fixed it. 

I'm sure you are quite busy with your new duties on the site.

[Stormmey]

Complain to the manager. Even though you think she knows what is going on, sometimes we don't. I moved my office to the lobby so all my patients can have immediate access to me.

[atech]

I was just wondering if any of you have nocturnal dialysis in any of your areas?

[dkerr]

There are a couple I'm aware of in Dallas. 

[monrein]

We do here at one of the downtown hospitals and it was pioneered here in Toronto (1994 I believe) by Dr Robert Uldall.  There are also a number of home patients doing nocturnal.  A Google search of "nocturnal dialysis Toronto" yielded quite a bit of info on it in our city.

[2_DallasCowboys]

I just felt I had to add to this post -

My husband's unit does not even supply sure-
seals, the patients bring in their own from the
outside.

Anyone else have to do this?  I think it is disgusting!

Anne