NxStage alarm number 11 woes, and tech support response times

[amanda100wilson]

NxStage number 11 woes:  Thursday evening I was doing treatment when out of the blue I got number 11 alarm.  Hadn't moved or anything to set it off which is usual cause.  No air in filter or anything visually amiss.  Called NxStage and they told me yo do air removal from pigtail even though no air visible (usually can see as lighter colored bubbly blood at top).  Went to try and do air removal anyway as instructed and couldn't pull.  At this point, I stopped talking to NxStage and terminated treatment so lost my blood.  Grr, just as I had got my Hgb. Up.  Anyway have tried to prime cartridge today using three cartridges (from two different lots) and ended up with 11 alarm.  Now waiting on new machine to be delivered.  The other part of this, is that NxStage customer answering times suck.  Took nearly five minutes just to be directed to answering service (that was for their patient in treatment line, and not an accept key wait time, particularly as that wasn't even to talk to a tech.  You simply can't sit there for that length of time if the pump is not working!). I logged a complaint twice today.  Apparently there are only four techs working all calls!  I have been using NxStage for 2.5 years and Recently their customer response times have definitely increased.  Used to be excellent.  Suggest if you are kept waiting longer than a reasonable time, that you log a complaint, since this is unacceptable and if enough people complain, hopefully they will deal with the problem.   

[obsidianom]

Waiting while in treatment is not acceptable. It never used to happen. They need more techs .

[Pod99966]

I've never had a problem getting through to tech support. And I've had all sort of problems. I even had to replace the control head on my "brand new" pureflow.

Sorry you had that experience. Maybe it was just an off night.

[PrimeTimer]

We recently had to switch out our NxStage cycler (it was time for annual maintenance). The cycler we have now frequently gives Red Alarm 21 and Red Alarm 11. I check the lines and the top of the dialyzer for air, clots, etc...never see anything suspicious. I am able to Mute, Stop and Restart Treatment but still do a tiny saline bolus just to flush the lines, I watch carefully and then the alarms go away. Sometimes we get these alarms a couple of times during treatment, sometimes not at all but I have noticed they are happening more frequently with our current cycler compared to the other one we had.

Don't know if it will help in the case of a Red Alarm 11 but there's a couple of old posts about alarms that make sense to me. I think some cyclers are more sensitive than others, maybe have their own quirks or maybe it all depends on the blood flow rate you run at and the "perimeters" the cycler sets early on when you begin a treatment session (Bill Peckham I think posted on this and perimeters ).

Anyways, see old posts under the topic "NxStage Users" titled "Yellow 21 Alarm" dated December 29, 2010 and "New to NxStage and Having Some Trouble" dated June 21, 2012. These posts talk about alarms and maybe will help with Alarm 11  ?

As for NxStage Tech Support, we've been very lucky and have always gotten very prompt responses. They've been good at walking us through a situation, even on a weekend late at nite. Hope the company isn't starting to slack off.

[Simon Dog]

If you think there is a problem with your machine, just tell NxStage support you don't feel comfortable with it and would like a swap-out.  I was getting occasional conductivity alarms with my PureFlow.  They weren't to the level where NxStage required a swap, but I asked nicely, they accommodated, and the new unit is alarm free.

As to response time - it's usually pretty good, but there was one time I called, after endless rings transferred to an answering service, and got a call back 10 minutes later.   Fortunately, I was not on the machine with blood stopped.

[amanda100wilson]

Wouldn't prime yesterday, get getting number eleven alarms during prime so machine has been switched out.  I think that the eleven alarm during treatment, was the machine going wrong, and then I clotted.  I was nog far from the bed of treatment, so heparin was probably towards limit of time.  Plus the pump stops with number eleven alarm, so machine is not cycling.  Little dot to bottom right of BFR display indicates if blood is still being cycled around.  I think the pump stops if there is risk of pushing air or clot into excess, for example on 10 and 11 alarms, so you don't have a huge window of opportunity to correct with these alarms.

[Pod99966]

I was getting occasional conductivity alarms with my PureFlow. 

That was the same problem I was having with my pureflow. Eventually it all my saks started to fail, and so they sent me a new control head for the pureflow. It works great now, but the stupid alarm tone is twice as loud as my old one.

[PrimeTimer]

I was getting occasional conductivity alarms with my PureFlow. 

That was the same problem I was having with my pureflow. Eventually it all my saks started to fail, and so they sent me a new control head for the pureflow. It works great now, but the stupid alarm tone is twice as loud as my old one.

Speaking of alarm tones, I wish ours were quieter or that we had a way to adjust the sound/volume. Especially on the Pureflow machine. We live in an apartment and I don't want our neighbors hearing alarms going off (day or nite). I like that we can adjust the heater temp but being able to adjust the alarms would be pretty great, too.

[Pod99966]

No. I checked. My new one is really loud, and I've tried everything to turn it down. It is preset at the factory.

[Dannyboy]

Amanda,
Maybe I missed it, but what was the NxStage "solution" for your #11 Alarms?
I have been getting #11 about 20 min or so prior to the end of the treatment....(and like you, can see no reason for it).  I reset it, and machine continues seemingly fine.
--Dan

[amanda100wilson]

Got the machine replaced, as it kept alarming with a number 11 alarm during prime on the following day.

[Dannyboy]

Thank you.

[Speedy1wrc]

Response time for in treatment calls has to be instantaneous. You figure by the time you try the usual troubleshooting, grab the phone and dial, you've already spent a minute or maybe even two. You've only got maybe another minute, for sure two if you push it. I had a delayed answer and lost my blood too. I had the tech on the line and he just said, time to quit. For grins I tried to manually clear the line and got a clot about 6" long out of it. It doesn't take long. You don't want to be cutting it close and push a clot through no matter what size.

[PrimeTimer]

No. I checked. My new one is really loud, and I've tried everything to turn it down. It is preset at the factory.

I'm probably asking for too much here but wouldn't it be great if we could set the alarm to our favorite radio station, just like you do a clock radio so that when a batch is done and ready to be tested for chloramines, your favorite music station would be playing. As for the other alarms, would like them to be really, really quiet so to not scare the neighbors into thinking it's the smoke alarm going off. Don't want them thinking I am burning toast down here every evening. 

[Speedy1wrc]

I've mentioned that any many other "glitches" with both the cycler and Pureflow and I always get. "Yeah we've heard that..."

[Simon Dog]

Response time for in treatment calls has to be instantaneous.

NxStage is usually pretty responsive, but I've had occasions where I've been placed in hold for a couple of minutes, and one where I was transferred to an answering service so NxStage could call me back when they had an open rep.