last few days happenings and discussion with clinic nurse

[The Noob]

here a quick further update, and i have a question for you all:

i am now driving the hubster to the clinic until he gets the TX. he is weak and sick and don't want to chance anything. i also had to fill in the nurses there on the last 2 days of him getting chest port replaced, what doc said, etc.

while there, she and i went back in one of the rooms and had a friendly but frank discussion. not just about my hubby but because i am now the assigned advocate for our support group.
all went well and got some things rolling. things we've all been asking for months now. but you know the squeaky wheel.

well, the last topic we discussed was the EMS, prison guards and medical transport people coming and going in the clinic, without taking any precautions. no gloves, mask, wash hands, nothing.
DH says after they unload a patient off the stretcher, they don't wipe it down, just throw a new sheet on it.
theres more but thats the jist.

i explained to her that my DH and i worked EMS for years, we transported dialysis patients, but also worked 911 calls in hemo units. never were we allowed to enter without gloves, mask, gown, head and shoe coverings.

now i realize advancements have been made, but we are only talking less than 2 years since we did this work.

nurses defense of this, get this, was, "these are medical people hired to do a job for us, they don't need to do any of this, because they are doing medical transport"..

uh..yeah..in and out of nursing homes, hospitals, ER's, private homes. all day.

i was confounded. i asked her, so because they have a title on their shirt, they are somehow immune to picking up germs and spreading them?

she says, "well they aren't like a taxi driver with a dirty job"..

 

she asked me what was the minimum i would like to see, and i said gloves and a mask. this made her very upset and angry and yelling. again..me..

i gave up. tried to end on positive note. doc will be in next week, says i can talk to him about it.
he is a sweet kind man and i am betting he doesn't know this stuff is going on.

during this, one of the familys called me to say his wife was in hospital, due to a stroke. apparently, her port wasn't working and no dialysis for 5 days. when they got it working, they tried to take too much all in one sitting. she had a stroke.
she was air lifted to big hosp in ann arbor. she has had all mri, ct scans, everything done to find out why this happened. docs there say they see this alot, clinic takes too much off and patient has a stroke.

this friend of mine also said the hospital hemo unit there takes no precautions. anyone can come and go and he said no one was even wearing gloves.
when DH was in hospital hemo unit, i had to put on gown and wash hands, and if i had a cold or cough wear a mask, and i couldn't be in the unit during hook up or take down.

ok, forgive me, i am exhausted and typing the dark. anyone care to chime in here??? 
 

[Ang]

when i was on holiday (hospital stay) after transplant last year there was an elderly gentleman , had his own room, when any medical staff dropped in for whatever reason, they spent 5 minutes getting dressed like darth vader, so as not to catch anything, but when he wanted to wander about or sit in the waiting room watching tv, all he had to do was put on a dressing gown and carry all his contraptions about.
And he was allowed to sit in a public area with all manor of people
Go figure

[okarol]

I admire you for trying. I cannot believe how cavalier the staff is about protecting the patients. It's ridiculous!
Hopefully the doctor will help. If things don't improve you can always file a complaint.
Here's a PDF file of a pamphlet called "Filing a Complaint Concerning Dialysis or Kidney Transplant Care"
http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/11314.pdf
Good luck!

[The Noob]

thank you okarol, you are  wonder!

ang: so the guy needed universal precautions, but himself allowed out? can't get this one. whether it was him needed protection, or staff, still should have not happened like this.

just got off phone with friend whos wife had the stroke. she had a much better dialysis in hospital, only took 3.1K off, they are already home. only been 2 days and she is feeling good. docs told them it had to be dialysis related, as they could find no real effects of a stroke.
needless to say he is not happy. talking about changing clinics. i asked him to wait till next week, see what clinic doc says, if we can get some changes. otherwise, i'm all with him.

going into this, we never realized what a racket this field is.

[sullidog]

Yes, sounds like there's something wrong. Medical transport should have to be sanitary for the conditions they have to go into.
Also see my post was in the hospital, I switched units, and you don't even have to let the unit know you're leaving, I just talked to my neph privately when he was rounding at the hospital.

[The Noob]

morning, coffees on..

when DH started out, we were at a different clinic, 50 miles away. one word for that place was nasty.
eventually i moved him to another clinic, 100 miles away. they were good but too far, and if needed to be in hospital, would have had to use the one their docs did that was 3 hours away.
we didn't know that we could use any clinic, even if out of state over the state line. i had looked up various and the clinic he's at now did not do PD. later, they did. so we changed to that one. it was the closest to our home and since we're out in rural area, driving in the winter was an issue.
now, we've been there since Nov., and for the most part experience has been good. and we like the docs.
i am just going from gut level here, but i "think" from all the patients/family have told me, there is a nurse who is a little overly ambitious and this seems to be the one causing problems.

now, before i talk with the doc, i will write out a simple list for him. to keep it short and sweet. and make point of giving praise where its deserved, but also, see if we can get these other thing addressed.
we are so close to transplant, don't want to be told we have to go somewhere else. should be able to voice issues in a diplomatic fashion without fear of being kicked to the curb. agree?

DH cousin has always tried to get us to move where he is, but no way we can right now. wish we'd done so in the beginning. but, thats where we are. 

[looneytunes]

When hubby was in the hospital last time with staph infection (catheter related) he was put into a room with an elderly bed-ridden patient because they had no private rooms available.  I was livid that this elderly man was exposed to VRSA but because he was not able to get out of bed and was virtually incommunicado, it was deemed safe.

In the dialysis unit at this same hospital, precautions are taken almost to the extreme.  No visitors during hook up and take off.  All staff wear gloves and masks no matter what type of access they are working with.  All "cubes" are washed down with disinfectant every time a patient is moved out.  I was truly impressed with their protocol there.   

Noob...I admire you for the fight you are willing to take on...on behalf of your husband and the other patients at that clinic.   

[jeannea]

I'm not clear why you want them fully dressed up. I did hemo for 6 months. What is the difference between when I waled through the unit in my street clothes to get to my chair and the EMS people not gowning? There was nothing done to sterilize the patients either. The techs would wear gloves and a mask when taking care of me and I would wear my mask at the right times. But no one else in the room would put on a mask because I was coming off the machine. I'm afraid you're pushing for an impossible standard. Any patient can bring in as many germs as a transport guy.

[The Noob]

this is a good point, and why i wanted feedback. thank you.
ok, so why did we have to do all this when we picked up patients or when DH was in hemo unit at hospital?
just want to know what current thoughts were on it, so i don't sound like a doofas.
i really want to know as the other families at the clinic are counting on me to advocate for them just to get the lines of communication open.
i told them i would discuss it further, get some answers and then they have to take it from there.