A Thought For This Upcoming Valentine’s Day

[Dman73]

My rant for the day is in-center dialysis,  the great revolving door and the lack of employee  engagement  in d-are.                                                                       
In the Fresenious unit where I spent the last 5 years there must have been 30 (nurses and tech’s) that resigned with only two of the original staff remaining.    One of them always told me that she wants to go home, sit on her couch and watch some TV detective shows. In reality her body was there but her mind was elsewhere.  I find this disheartening mainly because I put a lot of trust in someone who is about to stick me with a pair of very large needles and monitor my progress on a machine not to mention handle any crisis that may occur. Combine this with the human relationship that you thought you had developed with your caregiver to realize that they have quit without giving you any indication of their intentions. How would you feel if your hairdresser who you see every 2 weeks did the same thing?
The other stress builder is having to retrain all the new nurses/tech’s  as to how you would like to be run not to mention enduring the first needle stick to see if they are any good.  After breaking down the “who’s in charge” barrier and if you see them again things will settle down and they will soon be asking you how much weight you would like them to set the machine at and what speed do you want to run, what preferred dialysis profile and 30 minute duration of blood pressure checks.
All of this is survivable but there has to be a better way to create a less stressful   atmosphere where the caregivers get what they need to do the best job they can and feel that their work is rewarding.
The following link will further explore this topic: 
http://www.renalbusiness.com/articles/2011/04/employee-engagement-in-dialysis-care.aspx
Back to the Valentine’s Day part…
Recently, I had a great Tech that I have known for five years. She was the one that the unit counted on to train any of the new tech’s  and monitor their progress.  She had over 10 years experience at that facility, got along well with everyone, and to me she was my anchor where  if  something  went wrong with the flow and the alarms are going off,  I could count on her to straighten it all out.
Last summer, she told me that she was going to work on weekends at a neighboring unit to make some extra money. I told her that she was already working too  hard and that money wasn’t  everything. She then started splitting her time between the two units but I didn’t think much about it because the rest of the staff were imported from other units to fill the gap of all that those who had left.
In conclusion, she is gone and that is something that I never thought  possible, happened. I am still feeling the effects of it and it will bother me for some time to come.
The other day I was watching one of the new tech’s that put me on ( I’m on the 5-9pm shift) and noticed  that she was the only one watching 8 patents with the other 2 tech’s taking a break. I asked her if she felt comfortable with that and she told me that she thought that they were trying to get rid of her by overloading her with work. I told her that I don’t  believe  that was the case but  I will not  be surprised that she will be the next one leaving.

A Valentine’s tribute by john Waite to all those GREAT dialysis nurses & tech’s  that work elsewhere!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw-EHzK9LgY




TOPIC MOVED to appropriate section -  Bajanne, Moderator

[geoffcamp]

Yes!  I'm on the exact same shift as you and turnover and burn out for techs and nurses is a big issue!  I share your experiences. The big issue is that to the owner of the center (usually very large companies like Baxter or  Fresenious) only care about the bottom line. To them THE CHAPER THE MORE $$$$$ THEY MAKE!  I have heard they actually count the amount of guise pads used in a unit!!  So for them to develop a business model that rewards good long term employees is absolutely out of the question. That is exactly why they ALL (tech and nurses) job hop. It makes sense for them and their families to earn $1.50 more an hour. And that is exactly what happens when a unit is under staffed. It present a profit issue so the bump up the money and get someone until they can start the cycle over again!!  See we actually think this is about OUR health care when in fact is MOST certainly is NOT!!  This is a 100s of billion dollar industry. With share holders and over paid corporate executives that could give 2 shits about us. There is always another dialysis patient. My night unit is filled has been for years. I have been in the same unit I'm currently in for about 10 years now and I can't tell you the amount of times I've seen this OR silly corporate people come in and make everything more difficult because maybe 2 clinics had a certain issue now by mandate they must change how things work in every clinic. It's all big business my friend like I said they could care less who is in the chair!!  Your only as good to them as that money they can collect. My bill for dialysis and meds on dialysis alone is around $60,000 a MONTH!  Yes that much so do the math and look closer at these companies who are our caregivers and you will find there is NO. Care. Occasionally you get lucky with staff but its hit and miss. I've had a great crew for a few years now. Very lucky but I'm positive change will come again sooner than later!

[jeannea]

Just so you know, hairdressers quit all the time without telling you. When you show up for your next appt you have somebody else. I go through a ton of them.

Not that it makes your problem any better. Sorry.

[geoffcamp]

Just so you know, hairdressers quit all the time without telling you. When you show up for your next appt you have somebody else. I go through a ton of them.

Not that it makes your problem any better. Sorry.

I get what you are saying but to compare a hair dresser with people that hold my (our) life's in their hands is just not and never will be the same. Maybe to women!!  LMAO. it's a joke so don't be offended please!!