Seasoned Dialysis RN's ; tips for managing turnover

[Tree525]

How do you seasoned RN's do it? For example, lets say your 1st patient is due to come off in 6 minutes, and the next patient is due to come off in 10 min. What i've been doing is this: I will go to my 1st patient once their treatment is done, rinse them back, check their BP, and disconnect them from the machine as long as their BP is WNL. Then, I go to the machine and put it into test ( we are allowed to test the machine with the old lines ). Then, I pull out the patient's needles and get them bandaged up. Now, the next patient is due to come off in 4 min. AT THIS POINT, I AM HAVING TROUBLE....do you tear down the machine, re-string, and prime the new lines before going to take the next patient off ?

I am new to dialysis. I have been precepting on the floor for almost 4 weeks, and I will be on my own soon. Turnover is really the only thing I have been struggling with and it gives me anxiety even thinking about it. I always have everything I need for 2nd shift ready before 1st shift ends, so I know its not so much a material-related organizational issue. I really don't know what else to do to make myself quicker. Any tips/ pointers for managing turnover will be highly appreciated. Thank you.

[DaniRN1]

I feel your pain. It all has to do with speed. Eventually, you'll be able to clean and set up that first machine in 4 minutes, but until then, take off patient #1 and clean machine number #1 (by the way, Medicare would give your clinic an Immediate Jeopardy if they knew you guys were testing machines with dirty lines). Take off patient #2, strip and clean machine #2, tape up patient #1, and set up machine one after tests have passed, then finish number two. Hope this helps some. EVERYONE has this problem at first. Hang in there and good luck!