I am a CCU nurse who has worked with patients being dialysed at the bedside. I have some questions about outpatient dialysis.
1. Are the solutions pre-mixed or does the nurse have to adjust to the needs of the individual patient?
2. How much critical thinking and intervention is needed now? I was told that the equipment and practice of dialysis has become very routine. That is not what I see in acute care. My patients often become hypotensive, need colloids, electrolytes, and so on.
3. What assessments do you have to make before, during, and after administering medications?
4. What do you think is safe staffing? How should techs and/or LVN, LPN, and unlicensed assistants be utilized?
5. Is there always a doctor present?
THANK YOU to anyone who goes to the trouble to answer!
Is this a compliment?? Lol. And here I thought y'all just talked bad about us all day....
BTW, I say thank goodness for nurses who are willing to help us out with the smaller, common problems. Nice to hear someone that will help instead of hearing"That's not my job". I don't think some of y'all realize how much we really do appreciate the help. There's nothing worse than driving 30 miles to a hospital, walking through the hospital to find a machine (god knows where it is sometimes) to change a bicarb wand o-ring or something like that because "it's my job". Thanks! :kiss
Whoa !!! That WOULD be the pits !!! We do keep up with most of the "little stuff" like O-rings, batteries, spare parts, etc. at our clinic, and we're ALL well trained in the water system, and all the dailey checks and double-checks, LALs, cultures, etc. We do all of that. We no longer have reuse, so that's one headache gone, but there's still plenty of "technical knowhow" we have to constantly be updated and inserviced on...
Yeh, we appreciate our machine techs... you, too, are over worked and spread too thin. So what else is new, eh?
Yes, we are all overworked. That's seems to be the standing order for the higher-ups more and more these days. 'Do more with less'. Isn't it a lovely world? *was in overtime by Wednesday afternoon this week* Keep chuggin along!!
Ageless, what company do you work for? And where are you? It sounds like we are doing the same work. I am in Austin, TX and work for NNA. We provide acute hemo, PD, apheresis, CRRT, CVVH, for 9 facilities in Austin area.
Hi, I am new in dialysis and expected to create care plans for my patients. Can any one of you send me some examples or give me some ideas? I have been an OR nurse for 22 years and started in dialysis about a couple of months ago. I am learning and have no idea about the care plans. I will appreciate all the help I can get. JCAHO is coming this month and we have to be up to date. Please HELP!!!!!! you can e-mail me to [email protected]
Our bio-med engineer is in-house, thank goodness. He works 1/2 day at our facility & 1/2 day at another of our facilities. We do take care of the simple stuff ourselves & everyone is trained on the water system. But it is nice to have one around if something happens. We love our bio-med guru!
Hi, I am new in dialysis and expected to create care plans for my patients. Can any one of you send me some examples or give me some ideas? I have been an OR nurse for 22 years and started in dialysis about a couple of months ago. I am learning and have no idea about the care plans. I will appreciate all the help I can get. JCAHO is coming this month and we have to be up to date. Please HELP!!!!!! you can e-mail me to [email protected]
Your colleagues should be consulted and they should assist you in any queries you have related to the client's care plan. There is no way known you will know enough in such a short space of time to ably prescribe a care plan! You need help and support, it is your right!
you can e-mail me to
jnette, ASN, EMT-I
4,388 Posts
Yeh, we appreciate our machine techs... you, too, are over worked and spread too thin. So what else is new, eh?