Thank you to all!!

[caringpct]

I may only be a tech but from reading all of the people's concerns, rants, and raves I have tried to see things more from the patients' and caretakers' eyes. I have found things I can change around my unit to make it a little bit better. I have this site to thank. I have started to enjoy my job even more then before and hopefully that will show to all my patients.

We don't have a lot of time (we are very shorthanded at my unit) to do a lot of extra things, but I try to make the attempt. Whether it is knowing certain patients like their legs tucked in, headphones already hooked up to their tvs, knowing how to set their machines with their special profiles, whatever it is, I don't mind doing it knowing how people on here have responded. Any ideas on what I can do more of would be appreciated. And again thank you all!

[monrein]

Thank you so much for caring and trying to do the very best you can for patients.  We know and recognize these efforts when we encounter them and there really is nothing better than being made to feel we're human when sometimes we feel so sick that we almost forget it ourselves.  So often it's the little things that make the big things bearable.  I also applaud you for using this site to help you improve your understanding of patient issues.   

[MooseMom]

Please do not refer to yourself as "only a tech".  My mother has been on dialysis for 5 years now; she travels about the country, and we have met many techs in many clinics.  A tech can make or break the "dialysis experience" for a patient.  I know dialysis has been rough on my mom, but whenever she talks about it, she talks about it in terms of the techs, so I know how important it is to have someone be attentive and supportive as you're hooked up.

I will be starting dialysis myself soon, so I am already armed with a lot of information.  But the one big unknown is how the techs will treat me as I am having a treatment; to know that techs can make your life either a misery or more bearable is a frightening things.  We all like to be independent and in control, and having to go on dialysis means giving up some of that.  A gentle and supportive tech makes all the difference in the world.

Thank you so much for having the intellectual imagination to come to this site and to be willing to view your job from a different perspective.  Please encourage your fellow techs to do the same.  We are all working toward the same goal...a healthy life on dialysis.  Again, thank you!

[KICKSTART]

While i commend you for your extra effort please also be aware that many people like to retain their independence and may feel that 'tucking their legs in' or plugging in headphones' is something they are quite capable of doing. I think its more important to familiarize yourself with the patients , see them as people. Ok its great if you can remember profiles , but dont forget doctors can change these and they dont always stay the same , so i would double check, rather than just assume. I find the nurses who treat me as a human being the best. They remember small things , like i have dogs ! They talk to me like an adult and not a 5 year old ! In fact its the ones that stop and chat if only while they are putting you on the machine that make you feel a little less like the next shift in ! and the best ones of all ..are the ones with a sense of humour and a bright smile !!!

[Romona]

I think what you are going is great. Taking the extra moment or two must make your patients happy to see you. 

[RichardMEL]

While i commend you for your extra effort please also be aware that many people like to retain their independence and may feel that 'tucking their legs in' or plugging in headphones' is something they are quite capable of doing. I think its more important to familiarize yourself with the patients , see them as people. Ok its great if you can remember profiles , but dont forget doctors can change these and they dont always stay the same , so i would double check, rather than just assume. I find the nurses who treat me as a human being the best. They remember small things , like i have dogs ! They talk to me like an adult and not a 5 year old ! In fact its the ones that stop and chat if only while they are putting you on the machine that make you feel a little less like the next shift in ! and the best ones of all ..are the ones with a sense of humour and a bright smile !!!

Hey KS - great post!!

I can't stress highly enough your comment about talking to you like an adult and not a 5 year old. I'm having a bit of that problem at my unit at the moment. It's so frustrating! I told them I have kidney failure, not brain failure, yet some staff insist on repeating stuff to me and like I was 5 years old!!

Caringpct - I love that you want to make life better for your patients and you try and do what you can!! That's fantastic - we need more of you out there in kidneyland!! 

I do agree also with what KS is saying - to never just assume things. It's great to help with little things, but only if the patient wants it or needs it. I am one of those annoying independant types and I like to do everything I can for myself... of course this got me into big trouble but I've always been like that.

It's lovely though that there's someone who cares enough to try and find out more(ie: coming here) and better ways to help their patients!

[Stoday]

It's good to know that caringpct is getting a payback in the form of enhanced job satisfaction from her extra efforts. That's as it should be.

I can understand how medical staff can get into the rut of treating patients like children, especially for dialysis, where there is a greater proportion of aged patients. On average, patients are not like IHD members. My observations suggest that perhaps half IHD members have a university degree; on average members are more intellegnt than an average dialysis patient. So, in being spoken to as an average patient members feel thay are being talked down to.

My tip for caringpct is that she should find out about her patients' normal lives and to modify the way she talks to them accordingly.

I am reminded of the old joke where the waitress asks the carer, over the head of the wheelchair user, "does he take sugar?".

[caringpct]

Please don't think that I speak to my patients as children. I in fact do remember things about my patients' lives. I know all about kids, grandkids, pets, I even know anniversaries and how they met.

Richardmel-I love the independent types! However I do enjoy folding blankets and putting them away for any body who will let me.

[MooseMom]

It must be really hard to be a tech; your patients are so very different from one another.  You get the independent types and then you get the ones who, God bless them, can do practically nothing for themselves.  And they're all sick.  I'm the independent type, too, but if someone would be kind enough to tuck my legs into a blankie, I'd be grateful for the kindness. 

[kitkatz]

My techs are very patient with me.  I tease them gently. I am the pillow queen at my center.  I want two for my head and one for my arm (to throw on the floor).  My tech makes sure I have them then waits for me to settle. 

[RichardMEL]

Please don't think that I speak to my patients as children. I in fact do remember things about my patients' lives. I know all about kids, grandkids, pets, I even know anniversaries and how they met.

Now THIS is what is most awesome!!!! That's fantastic!! My favourite nurses are those that actually give a damn about us as people and really ask us (and mean it) about our lives and what is going on - away from dialysis. Remembering that we're more that patients to be processed and shoved out the door. Like the nurse who remembers my cat's name and asks me how she is, or the one one that discusses travel plans with me (makes me SOOO jealous of course!) or even the one that discusses her daughter's search for a bloke with me or thatshe had a big fight with her boss (just why I'm not sure, but I feel like I'm part of her extended family).

Basically it's being human to us - remembering we have lives (that's what dialysis helps with!) and jobs, and friends, and family and pets and dreams and ambitions and goals and interests....

Sure you can't spend every minute with them - absolutely (and frankly when I'm on the machine I can only do so much chatting before it gets a bit draining for me - so little bits at a time are just perfect for me) but I really like that a lot of my nurses spend time actually talking TO/WITH me and not AT me, and share a bit of themselves even. That sort of thing creates a feeling of community more than just "you come in. I hook you up. You sit there and shut up for five hours and then go" sort of thing.

I'm so glad you're like that!!!! if you ever relocate to oz, come to Melbourne!!