Fresenius Medical Care

I work IN two FMC units but I work FOR the nephrologists. I am an advanced practice nurse so can only speak to what I see. I work in central IL. They are a for-profit center. Their third quarter earnings for 2007 were another record-breaker. Here's what I see:

1. They did away with Sure-Seals (bandaids with gelfoam in them to help stop bleeding. They were too expensive. Now, pts have to buy their own.

2. They ration 4x4's. Again, makes it hard to stop bleeding.

3. Turnover for nurses is very high. I've worked in two FMC units and they rarely keep the nurses for more than a few months.

They are pushing their home-therapies program. In my area, they have some competion from another company called Renal Therapies. The differences are in the machines. With FMC, the pt must re-plumb their water supply. However, with Renal Therapies they don't have to re-plumb. FMC is just getting their home HD program off the ground so will be interesting to see how it works.