Driving and HD

[Quickbeam, BSN, RN]

Hey there. I'm a community health nurse and I oversee policy on all health issues as they relate to driving in my state. 4 million people, every possible health problem. From 1:1 case management to global procedurals. If it has to do with driving and health/safety, it's my job.

There are 3500 people in my state on HD. That's a drop in the bucket compared to diabetes (200K) and seizure disorders (50K). However, people on HD have accidents rates WAY above what their numbers would dictate. And more problematic, they have incident report rates...where they did something wrong because of their health but the police officer didn't ticket them...off the charts.

I spoke with the Kidney Foundation and one mystery solved...I guess up until a few years ago people had to have a ride to HD...now they can drive themselves. We sure see the problems. Also, we're seeing a huge rise in people on HD wanting to drive commercial trucks and school buses. It makes me nervous.

Those of you working in dialysis...what do you think on the driving issue? Do you see people leave/arrive who are unsafe to drive?

[diabo, RN]

Our clinic has several that drive to and from txs. There shouldn't be a problem if the patient is stable during treatment and especially when leaving. One of our 48 year olds continues to opperate a bulldozer on his off days. He still has the reputation of constructing the best ponds around- been on dialysis for the last 10 years. We all see many drivers on the highway who don't seem like they should be driving. There are mornings when I even wonder about myself.......

Steve

[**nurse**]

The only driver I have concerns about has substance problems that are separate from his dialysis problems. I guess you'd need to look for causes beyond the common thread of dialysis. Are thier blood pressures dropping? Are they restarting bleeding at needle sites? What actually causes the accidents?