Report lack of care to who...where????

[paddbear0000]

Good for you!  Give 'em hell!   

[RichardMEL]

yeah well she HAS to respond formally now and she's pissed at that well her own fault for NOT seeing you Monday when she said she would. You're right too many lame excuses and the staff's issues are NOT yours and they should not make excuses to you, their client/patient/customer, about their internal issues which are none of your business or concern. The fact is the ball was dropped multiple times and you're rightly calling them on it. Good for you! You will probably, unfortunately, get a black mark against you now as a "complainer" which is sad - I hope they treat you properly and with respect (as all patients should, incidently)... fingers crossed!!!!

[jessup]

Way to go girl.
Good for you
 

. I told her several times this should NEVER be a problem of any patient..she needs to fix this..she kept saying I wish you had talked to me before you sent this and held up her letter. I said I was here Monday and you did not come to talk to me, well there were excuses about that too.
 Too many people use too many excuses..

Yeah I agree - too many excuses too many times

[monrein]

Good for you Ann.  And now you let them get all rattled while you just keep a calm dignity about you.  The director's job is to deal with her techs and your job is to stand your ground and insist on acceptable care.  As for her wishing you'd talked to her first, she had her chance as you'd asked to speak to her and Lord knows you spent a good half a day there so she can keep on wishing.  I'm so happy you took the power available to you. 

[kitkatz]

Give them absolute hell! 

[okarol]

If you don't advocate for better care, who will? I am sure you aren't the only one who has received shabby treatment. Kudos to you for having the courage to speak up!
Hang tough! 

[RichardMEL]

A little off the topic of this thread but I found myself in a similar situation just today.

The other day I was due my Aranesp (EPO) shot. No problem. Now a little unusually the nurse got the shot out of the fridge but did not administer it into the machine straight away. She put it down on my table and said she'd do it a little later (no idea why). Now it sat there for a little bit (I have no problem with that incidently.. I mean it wasn't going to overheat for 30 mins or go off or anything). Well it sat there and I just had this thought into my head to look at it... maybe look at the expiry date or something.. I was more curious than worried or concerned. Well I picked it up and imagine my surprise when I discovered the dose was higher than what I am usually given. Given the concern about high Hemoglobin levels being dangerous, and well just because it clearly wasn't the right dose for me, I called the nurse back and queried her.. now I didn't say "hey you've gotten out the wrong meds" because I didn't want to appear like I was accusing her of making a mistake or anything but I just said "hey are you sure this is the right one? I am sure I am A 40 and this is A 50.... did something change?" (I knew it hadn't, but I didn't want to cause a fuss) now OK the nurse went off and got the right dose and stuck it in. I think she was OK about it though she didn't really say much to me.. I guess she was embarassed at being caught out.

Anyway I thought no more about it for the rest of that session or later but the more time went on I started to think about it and I was wondering what might have happened if I had been given the higher dose by accident? Probably nothing but I didn't know. I also thought that clearly that specific dose was for some other patient and had it been used then they may not have had a dose ready for them when they needed it. I really thought while it was fairly minor in the grand scheme of things that I should tell someone in charge. Not to get the nurse into trouble or anything like that but I just thought SOMEONE should know.

Well I came in today and quietly told the boss nurse I wanted to have a word with her in private when she had a moment. Well that was fine except as luck would have it the nurse in question was putting me on when the boss came up and wanted to know what I wanted to talk about. I just said to her it wasn't that important and could I talk to her about it later... of course the nurse in question clearly must have figured out something was up and she got a bit weird with me.. not that I mind so much but I just don't want to put anyone offsite.. I mean everyone makes mistakes and are only human and I don't hold any grudges.. I actually really like all the staff.

Well so anyway at the end of my session I took the boss aside and explained what had happened and my concerns but I stressed I didn't want to make it formal or involve anything serious  but I felt someone should know that it happened just because (and let's face it, if it was one in a series of incidents then maybe they need to do something about it). Well the boss was pretty good and said she apprieciated that I wanted to be discreet and that sometimes they got a little lax with double checking stuff like that.

So anyway not quite sure what will happen and I did wrestle with it a bit because I don't want to be seen as one of those troublemakers or anything but it could have been important. As the nurse said having that one higher dose wouldn't have had any major effect... if I had it for a month or two then yes it could cause issues... so I felt better about that but I also felt better that I'd informed someone in charge because it is important I think.

So anyway that's my story!!

[karen547]

I know how you feel Richard! I often catch one nurse in particular making 'tiny' errors! I caught this one nurse I actually like a lot about to infuse me with iron and I am supposed to get it through the IV drip. She was actually grateful that I said something, and not mad at all. This other nurse though he just is like really bad at his job.. I actually hope he gets axed, I think he's a danger to the patients. Not giving me my heparin and infusing me with Iron all in one day was a bit much..

[skyedogrocks]

Good Lord G-MA, so sorry you had to go through this.  But good for you on rattling some cages.  This is your health they are dealing with, if they can't handle this job, find a new one.

I rattled some cages about 6 months ago when Rob's Home Hemo nurse at his dialysis center messed up sending his blood tissue for the transplant list.  They never sent it in and it was too late for the center to draw the blood and send to the hospital.  I called his nurse, she was out on leave, called his nurses boss, she was out dealing with her sickly husband.  Nobody was available for him.  I complained to the receptionist, who can help us, she had the nerve to say that the nurses are dealing with a lot of personal issues and how dare we demand their help.  Well long story short, Rob went right to the hospital to have his blood tissue drawn and submitted.  I called the Director and the Director's boss about this lack of responsibility and what the receptionist said to me.  Don't ya know that within 2 hours I had lots of people calling us and kissing our ass?  His nurse got back to us the next day and apologized, I went off on her too.  I don't care, they have a job to do and they better do it right.   

[G-Ma]

Sky: Saul and I both went WHAT...on what the receptionist said.
Karen: Good for you on watching.
Richard:  What concerns me in your situation is many times the nurses just look at the past week to do the next meds and if she gave and "noted" the 50 and then would continue the 50 we are talking about problems.
When we got home today we had a message from regional ESRD so I need to call back and discuss Monday.
Hope you all have a good week.
Ann

[karen547]

This may be a bit off topic but I also notice that certain people who give me my benadryl also tend to be better at administering it. I mean when certain people give it to me I hardly even feel anything, they may as well have given me water, while others really know how to knock ya out! lol

[okarol]

I posted this article by Roberta Mikles, RN, BA elsewhere on IHD, but it's appropriate here:

Viewpoint: The Many Faces of Quality Care and a Need for Accountability
http://www.renalbusiness.com/articles/the-need-for-accountability-in-dialysis.html#

Dialysis Patients' Bill of Rights and Responsibilities
http://www.kidney.org/atoz/pdf/DialysisBillRights.pdf

Don't accept mediocre -- mediocre can kill.
The way to bring about improvement of care is vigilance by those on hemodialysis.

Always write it down and when corresponding, cc many.

Bumping this up for those who are new.


Roberta continues to be a steadfast advocate for quality care and you can read about what she's doing here  www.qualitysafepatientcare.com - a site dedicated to Roberta's dad Mickey, who said, "Ask your nurses, dialysis technicians and physicians --

'What kind of care would you, or your loved one, want to receive?' 
'Is the care you are giving me, what you would want for yourself, or a loved one?'

Roberta is also helping patients who are experiencing some type of bullying, retaliation and reprisal in their units.

and to get more help, as mentioned before, go to your ESRD network - you can find your state on the map here http://www.esrdnetworks.org/

[dialysisadvocate]

Hello All:

We have just finished posting the remaining dialysis facility surveys (inspection reports) for California for 2010 to our site=== please visit and if you have questions, contact us.   www.qualitysafepatientcare.com
Newly added surveys:    http://www.qualitysafepatientcare.com/newly-added-surveys-2010.php
CDC report - related info for CA  http://www.qualitysafepatientcare.com/breaking-news.php
 
Infection Data - surveys for first six months. http://www.qualitysafepatientcare.com/infection-data-jan-aug-2010.php

I am hoping to analyze the last six months worth of surveys. In the first six months, 23 of 25 facilities were cited for deficiencies in infection control. HELLO staff... these are the basic of most basic practices that you are not implementing
Roberta Mikles BA RN
Director, Advocates 4 Quality Safe Patient Care
Dialysis Patient Safety Advocate (uncompensated advocates striving to ensure safe care withOUT reprisal, retaliation or bullying of patients by staff -- yes, this does happen in some units..

[RealityCheck]

Networks have no power to fine or close.  Call the State department of health.

[Seamus]

G-MA--

I thought I had it bad, but you would think my center was heaven compared to yours. Good luck in your reporting to the authorities and anyone else within yelling distance.  You're in my thoughts and prayers.

Seamus

[sullidog]

My center is crap too, even their billing department is horrible and their insurance coridinators suck too! I make complaints and they scurry, but after a while it goes back to what it was. Does anyone know what the process is for finding a new clinic and a new doctor?

[The Noob]

hubby was at an RAI clinic the first time. nasty. hemo unit open to the world and anyone could come and go with no precautions. PD clinic in basement with falling ceiling tiles and mold. many times nurse there would half undress hubby with door open and people walking by and no BSI.
one time i remember she went all the way through his PD TX right there with door open, and after she was done, handed me a mask, gloves and hand sanitizer, after she was done! she had nothing on either.
i was a newbie then but i still knew this wasn't kosher. he had an infection 2 days later and was back in hospital. this same nurse quit a month after we started there.

[Seamus]

Ann--

Good Luck and Illegitimum non Carborundum! (Don't let the bastards wear you down)
 

[dialysisadvocate]

Indeed, I have heard from patients that they have contacted the Networks and nothing has been changed in their unit. The Networks have no power as far as I am concerned and further, the money that CMS pays the Networks should be given to patients and we should do away with the Networks.

As I mentioned before, you can file a complaint with CMS against a techniciian who has provided care that has resulted in a negative outcome. Here in California the agency that certifies technicians will take a complaint and investigate, as well as you can contact the Board of Registered Nursing in whatever state you are in.

[daveosaurus]

I never want to get you mad at me. You're awesome!

[darlenehenning07]

i agree totally find some where else to go i know i live in frankenmuth michigan i am going to start going to the mount morris michigan dialysis center starting tuesday.

[ShadyPanda]

Always put your complaint in writing.

The one that really gets them is when you  make the complaint to CMS or the Department of Health you can even do it anonymous.

Sit back and watch them jump.

[dialysisadvocate]

I have received a few emails from some of you -- therefore, am posting the following:
(1) If you are having problems with delivery of care, retaliation from staff, or any other problem, we  now have an 800 number for you to contact -- 1-800-847-8842 --(throughout the United States)
(2) For those in California, to see if your facility has been inspected recently www.qualitysafepatientcare.com (we hope that all surveys are posted to the site, but on occasion a survey might be missed - Also, you can file a complaint against a nurse or dialysis technician which can be investigated (different divsion/department than that which inspects/surveys facilities) -If a staff has implemented a practice that resulted in harm, etc..if you experience retaliation, etc. For Calif we have posted the specific departments/numbers

Note: If you are experiencing retaliation from staff, for speaking out to ensure you receive safe care, start taking notes --e.g. date, time, name of staff, what happened, did anyone else see or hear what happened... any other details are also good, e.g. which other patients where present, was there other staff present, (I have even documented what staff where wearing on said day).

Roberta Mikles BA RN Dialysis Patient Safety Advocate

[plugger]

"She (Arlene Mullin) contends that DaVita clinics operate with virtually no accountability or oversight. “I’ve gotten notarized statements from patients so I can advocate for them, and neither ESRD Networks nor DaVita has recognized any of them. [ESRD Networks and the government] have no authority over these clinics. None.” Mullin claims that DaVita’s insider connections to CMS and ESRD Networks allow clinics to get tipped off about what should be surprise inspections. (She says this also happens at non-DaVita clinics.) The patient advocates I spoke with uniformly believe that ESRD Networks and CMS respond to grievances by stonewalling, burying them in bureaucracy, or ignoring them altogether. “Of all the patients I’ve helped to file complaints, in 100 percent of the cases, ESRD Networks has sided with the dialysis companies,” Mullin says. “Medicare has allowed this industry to oversee itself.”"
http://www.5280.com/magazine/2012/09/strangest-show-earth

If you find the above to be true about CMS and the ESRD networks, don't give up!  Besides the 800 number Roberta mentioned in the previous post, Arlene Mullin and Dialysis Advocates now have a website to visit for more info on getting help.  Most of the time solutions to problems don't involve legal remedies, Dialysis Advocates have enough contacts in the government and dialysis industry to get problems solved - the threat of legal action is often enough: http://dialysisadvocates.com/

Sept. 24th 2012:  Dialysis Advocates has just updated it's website with a lot more info!

(Dialysis Advocates is also looking to hear from staff)

[Lexxtech18]

Something crazy happened to me just the other day. I was getting my Venofer, which I've been on for a long time, never had a problem with it before. Well, this time the RN must have just been lazy and he pushed it in fast; which we all should know is a big NO-NO! As it can cause "Red Man's Syndrome" in some patients. Me being one of them. -.- (I also get RMS with Vanco and Genta.) Anyway, so I started feeling very flush and itchy and my face was red as a damn beet! The Nurse Practitioner was there that day and was all, "Lexi, what's wrong? You don't look so good." So I told her I felt like I was having an allergic reaction to something. She said right away it looked like someone pushed the Venofer too fast.

Well, the RN who pushed it was standing right here and he goes, "No, I pushed it slow like usual." In unison (I kid you not) one of the techs and myself go, "No. You pushed it fast. I watched you!"  It was kind of comical, really. But the RN still insisted he pushed it slow and tried to say I was not feeling good because they were taking too much fluid. Whatever. Surprise, surprise he hadn't even charted anything. So anyway, they gave me some Tylenol and Benadryl to help with the reaction and all was well.