Do you like your dialysis nurse?....I just want to know if they are nice to you?

[payats]

Since I experienced that some of them are nice but some are mean... 

[Epoman]

Since I experienced that some of them are nice but some are mean... 

Yes, indeed I have met some VERY nice nurses and some very nice techs. But I also have met some techs and nurses that should never have become nurses/techs in the first place.

[kitkatz]

Me too.  For the most part they are understaffed and over run with work at the units I have been in.  So moods can change according to what kind of day the staff is having!

[Zach]

Currently, we have some great nurses.
 

[charee]

I have not yet started Dialysis, but the closest unit to me has been and done 2 home visits , one before I had my fistula and one the day after i got home from hospital just to see how i was going ,She seems very nice so far , she also rings me every few weeks, she has to travel a 70km round trip to visit.

[Bajanne]

I really like all of my dialysis nurses.  Yes, they are all nice to me.  However, they are different levels of niceness!  What about yours? 

[nkviking75]

For the most part I am very happy with the entire staff at my dialysis unit.  There are good days and bad days, but then, I run 4 times a week and 4 hours at a time, and I've been at it for 5 years.  I spend a lot of time around them.

[AlasdairUK]

I changed hospitals about four months ago and they seem to better organized and have more time with each patient. I'm happy with all my nurses at my new hospital. At my old hospital most of the nurses where very good, but there was one that I did not like at all. She seemed to know it all and not listen to patients needs. That really gets to me when they see you as the job and the sooner they get rid of you they get to go home. That was just one out of so many.

[MattyBoy100]

I have an excellent unit and all the nurses are really nice.  There is one in particular who is responsible for looking after me and I have become really close to her.  Is it just me or does spending 16 hrs a week in someone's company create a special relationship?  I think I'm falling for my nurse big time!!!

[Joe Paul]

Nurses, IMO, are only as good as the patient. Meaning, if we have a bad attitude it will be sure to run over to the people around us. Sometime, just sit and watch in your unit...there are people around you that are just looking for someone to blame. Nurses, in general, got into this field because they love and want to help other people, that feeling is still there, its just sometime, we the patient are the ones who make people mean. Try to get to know your staff, they are people too, and maybe just get tired of hearing how bad WE have it.

[angieskidney]

Most of mine are nice but there are times when I feel like I am just a job to certain ones and that they would rather I not talk or not be apart of my own care.

[BigSky]

Most of the nurses I have had are pretty good.  Only had a few I didn't much care for.

[RichardMEL]

All of mine are really good. They manage to mix well humour with being professional and it's great. Well as great as you can have in this kind of environment. Number 1 is always paitent wellbeing/health. I've seen them going from chatting and having a laugh to rushing to someone in trouble.

The best part is a lot of them actually LISTEN to you and care and not just about health stuff.. but if, for example, I might mention I'm going to dinner somewhere nice etc they'll ask about it next time they see me, or ask about family or whatever.

Really great people!

[DeLana]

Nurses, IMO, are only as good as the patient. Meaning, if we have a bad attitude it will be sure to run over to the people around us. Sometime, just sit and watch in your unit...there are people around you that are just looking for someone to blame. Nurses, in general, got into this field because they love and want to help other people, that feeling is still there, its just sometime, we the patient are the ones who make people mean. Try to get to know your staff, they are people too, and maybe just get tired of hearing how bad WE have it.

I appreciate your comments about nurses in general, and I have had painful experiences with angry, bitter patients using me as their doormat, but it would never make me mean (just sad).  Most nurses indeed have a "calling" to go into nursing to make a difference and help people, but there are certainly some who have no business in nursing; frankly, I sometimes wonder what possessed them to choose nursing! 

Nurses are trained to deal with "difficult" patients and not to take it personally, but we're only human and sometimes wonder why a particular patient seems to hate us so much.  Patients play games sometimes, trying to gain favor with some staff and alienate others ("I don't want you to stick me!!! Only --- may do it!")  I always respect that, and don't have a problem with it (sometimes, only certain workers can stick a certain access), but it's the way it's sometimes said.  Still, it would never make me mean and try to "punish" that patient (by getting them on late - employees can play games too, but I won't).

I do know some nurses who have no business being nurses - but they are.  You can't always tell easily - sometimes patients love them, perhaps because they get them on fast (they don't realize the shortcuts they take which put patients at risk for infection and other problems) or off on time (perhaps by cutting their time without a doctor's order; I have seen that happen.)  My point is just, there are all kinds of nurses (and techs - many of your caregivers aren't nurses at all), good and bad.

But thanks again for your comments, and those of others as well!  It's good to know we're appreciated.

DeLana   

[angieskidney]

Ya like today. My nurse took me off 1 min early. She is normally at the hospital dialysis unit so she seemed to forget that I know how to run myself back (rinseback) so she turns the machine and I was thinking "I am done already? I didn't hear the done alarm..." and turns out I still had 7 to 10 ml to take off (i know not much but ...). Then when she was running me back she stopped it early and I was thinking "I could get more blood back than that but my Hemoglobin is 120 (12 for you Americans) so I didn't really say anything because I am worried about clotting with it that high anyway.

Also when I first came in they had my dry weight wrong again (they never put it into the computer when they change it) and I told her it should be at 64kg and not 63.5kg because I will crash or my BP will drop before my run is done at that target. She changed it but not without arguing at first about how I was wrong and that I was probably thinking about what I was coming off at and not my target. I was thinking, "I am in Self Care which means I learn how to set up my own machine and understand my numbers! I think I know my frickan weight target!!!"

Also I am picky who cannulates my AV Fistula! This nurse wasn't actually supposed to be my nurse but what happened is it was supposed to be my first day of Button-hole but my nurse just never showed up for work they said. I asked the nurse I had what would happen if after we start button-hole the nurse doesn't show up ... and the one cannulating me doesn't know button-hole.. what would happen? I said I was disappointed that we still were NOT doing button hole. She asked why? I said because I am developing scar tissue by the cannulating me in the same spot all the time since the spot the arterial goes in there isn't much options. She looked at me and said, " but with button hole they cannulate you in the same spot all the time!" And I had to explain to her why this wasn't good when NOT doing button hole. I told her how it can hurt the fistula. How they should be doing the ladder technique. I was getting frustrated because it seemed here I had to TEACH the dialysis nurse who was cannulating me on the day I was supposed to learn Button Hole!

Plus I think sometimes patients might be rude or whatever because they are feeling so crappy and misunderstood or not listened to.

But I like a nurse who listens and works with a patient. I have some really nice ones.

[meadowlandsnj]

Nurses are trained to deal with "difficult" patients and not to take it personally, but we're only human and sometimes wonder why a particular patient seems to hate us so much.  DeLana   

I've recently seen a few patients really treat the nurses like their own personal doormats.  We have this one really nasty patient who really pushes it too far.  Whatever you do for her isn't good enough.  I've tried to talk to her a few times before dialysis but she seems to be just miserable.  I can understand not feeling good and not wanting to be there but deal with it.  For example I'm on for 4 hours so they take me in first before people who have lesser time.  When she happens to see this she always makes a remark to me like "there goes the Princess" or "who does she know in there" or something like that.  She's only on for three hours!  But she demands to be put on before anyone else.  She has a hissy fit if she has to wait.  Most of the time they try to pacify her but she's getting nastier and nastier.

Donna





EDITED: Fixed quote tag error - Sluff, Administrator

[mallory]

My dialysis nurse is so nice.  They called her when I was in the ER last week to ask a question about my catheter.  I was sick, but it didn't have anything to do with the catheter, but she called me the next day to check on me because she was worried about me!  Wow!  I was so impressed!  That really meant a lot to me.  She is very nice and she seems to genuinely care about her patients.

I have two nurses when I get chemo, one of them is also very, very nice, she makes sure I get a blanket, she keeps checking to make sure I'm not sick, she takes the time to talk to me when she can.  I wouldn't say the other one isn't nice, but she doesn't act like she cares very much.  I get really, really cold when they're giving me the chemo, and the second nurse will never get me a blanket.  I have to get the chemo treatment for 5 hours, so I'm usually there from 9:00 am to 2:00 p.m., so, the first nurse always orders me a lunch from the hospital.  The second nurse never does.  She doesn't ask if I need a drink, nothing.  Just sticks in the IV and leaves.  She only comes back if the alarm goes off on the IV.

I know, I should be more assertive, my sister keeps telling me if I get the second nurse to just tell her "I need a drink, a blanket, etc.," but I hate to make waves. 

By far, though, the nurses I deal with are very good and very dedicated.  I really appreciate them.

[angieskidney]

I have been in the hospital so much that I feel I understand the nurses well enough to get along with most of them .. but some .. some seem like it is just their job and compassion is not a natural part for them..

Let me tell you about last year with my favourite hemo dialysis nurse Janine. The reason she is my fav is because she SHOWED me what a good nurse she is by her ACTIONS! I had just gotten out of the hospital but was still going to the hospital dialysis instead of self care because I wasn't healthy enough yet for doing my care myself. I still had Pneumonia and had to be on oxygen since my Oxygen level was too low. They also didn't know what my dry weight was since I had circumstances that made my weight drop by over 20 lbs in the month before I was hospitalized. I was having complications and had to go to the ER (Emergency Room) after dialysis but I was on evenings so it was late and there was no one to stay with me when she brought me there and it was the very end of her shift. She actually stayed an hour past her shift with me. She is such a great nurse who made sure I was ok and taken care of. I have had other nurses that while taking care of me aren't even paying attention to what they do so Janine in comparison was AMAZING!! Now THAT is what a nurse should be! Commpassionate and going beyond her means when she sees it is the right thing.

But patients can be rediculous as well. There was this one from out of town that made the nurses just roll their eyes. She was only here for 3 days I think but she was so demanding and questioned everything like "what are these clamps on my arm? Where can I get some? Can I take these home?" then sees me and asks me where she can get them and asks if I am a nurse (I had the clamps on my arm but that didn't clue her in). She was so demanding of the nurses and didn't seem to realize that she didn't have her own personal nurse but that the nurses have to take care of the other patients as well.

I can understand both sides but I also realize that we are  all human. I just want the nurses to take me seriously. They always judge me on looks. Today the nurse kept calling me a "youngin'" and making references to how I wouldn't know because I am so young. I was trying to ignore it. Let it roll off my back. But after 3 or 4 times within the first 10 min I was getting kinda annoyed at her assumptions.

[Adam_W]

About the only thing I really like about my centre, is the awesome attitudes of my nurses and techs. Everyone has a very loving, compassionate attitude, and I have become very close to them, particularly two of the nurses. There have been a few times where I've felt very bad about my situation and was very depressed (fortunately that doesn't happen very often). When ever I feel like that, there is always someone there for me. A few days ago, I had one of my really bad days, and as I was leaving the centre after my treatment was finished, my favourite nurse stepped in front of me, hugged me, and just held on while my tears flowed. That level of compassion she had for me when I needed it the most is one of the biggest things that gets me through my bad days. Thank you God for the staff at Dialysis Institute of Northwest Indianapolis. I love them all .

[jedimaster]

I do home hemo, but have to report once a month or call my nurse if I run into problems...she is  super great!...nice, compasionate and with a great sense of humor. She treats me as an individual, which I appreciate big time.

[RichardMEL]

Wow! Just re-reading this thread..Can't believe I posted here nearly 4 months ago..seems just like yesterday!

Well, I still love the staff in my unit. I say staff because it's not just the nurses but the clerk and the lady who comes and brings us sandwiches and a cup of tea and cleans the chairs and stuff.

I think you can't help but to become involved in some way or other with the staff, and them you... in my case I spend 15-16 hours with them a week.. so that's like 2 working days worth... so kind of like a part-time job... and so you get to know the people because you talk, and laugh, and try to keep things light.

Lately I've been taking some jelly beans in to give me a bit of a sugar boost in the last hour or two of my session (this was a suggestion from my fave nurse)... except now she eats more than I do! LOL.. I think I see why she suggested it!! LOL

I don't mind though.

I have already promised that WHEN I get a successful transplant (being positive here, folks!) I am taking them all out to lunch!! And I mean it! And hopefully I'll be able to drink more of them to celebrate!!!

(I live right near the unit, so it is an easy walk for me to go visit)

[kitkatz]

I feel like I am doing time in my center now.  There is a screamer who sets off at 5p.m. and hollers and yells till she comes off the machine at 7p.m. I have had it.  I am looking to move centers if this is not taken care of pretty soon.   They drug her up but it wears off.  What are they going to do to her next?  It scares me to watch this old lady sinking further into dementia, and noone is stopping to say wait a minute. 

I like the tech and nurse that are taking care of me.  They can't seem to keep staff in the unit for more than a year at a time.  People come and go so fast it is hard to keep a relationship with them, knowing they may leave soon.   One nurse has said she is leaving five times now and has not left yet.  Eight years now in the same unit.

[glitter]

I don't really understand the staff at my husbands unit-i mean, they are polite and all, but they are not personable or friendly.  You do not see too many of them talking in general conversation  with the patients. There is one fella who has been deployed three times to Iraq that talks to my husband a bit-which he certainly appreciates. And there is a young one who is friendly when she answers questions-but the rest pretty much ignore him-even when they are working on his machine. They have definitly gotten the point across that he is just a number.

[angela515]

Most dialysis nurse's just consider what they do their job, no need for person connections with patients.

[goofynina]

Most dialysis nurse's just consider what they do their job, no need for person connections with patients.

I find this to be true with some Techs BUT there are some techs (and Thank God for them) that truly care about you and not only talk to the patients but listen as well.  I think alot has to do with the way the patient treats them (the techs) also.  IMO