has anyone else had trouble with nurses morale?

[fedup]

hi everyone. i am a caregiver for a young girl on dialysis. for 2 yrs now we have gone to her treatments with her (another caregiver and I). during this time we have had nothing but trouble from the davita workers. it is not just towards us (the caregivers) but also towards the patients. my grandmother also goes to this center and it concerns me that these are the people who are responsible for taking care of her. the girl i work with is a screamer she will lay and scream for no reason at all due to the disruptivness of this, we worked with her mother and got her to agree to medicate the girl so to provide a peaceful treatment for all involved. that was fine for a yr and a half now the nurses do not want her to be medicated. they want her to scream. however when she does scream they r rude to everyone. i am not saying just one or two of the nurses or techs but i do mean all of them.
there is also a problem of them locking the door to the treatment area and all the workers disappearing. this happened one day a machine began to beep and for about 20 minutes no one was available to check the man or his machine. i knocked on the door and i even yelled in thru the receptionists window. no one was there. when they did finally come the man had died!! a nurse actually argued with a couple of the techs about how she didn't want to do CPR! there have been many incidents like this. they r just mean nasty people to anyone who walks in the center. a new center will b opening in a few wks and almost all of the patients are transferring bc the morale is so negative in the current center. i was just wondering if anyone else has encountered anything like this. also, if u have what did u do about it? do u have any advice for me? thanks so much.

[flipw]

That's terrible. I would contact the owners of the clinic and Davita headquarters too. There should be a Charge Nurse, as well as, a Unit Administrator in the chain of command. You can also contact Medicare as they do the inspections.

It's also a violation to lock doors and/or leave patients unattended. Patients need advocates and it's good that you are willing to help.

[chefnancy]

Yes, that sounds beyond horrible. I would call DaVita headquarters right away. It must be particular to your site as everyone at my center is very well taken care of, as is everyone I have ever talked to who dialyzes at DaVita. Locking the door and leaving patients unattended is beyond the pale and should be reported immediately.

[fedup]

thanks for the suggestions. the doctors who r in charge r just as bad. once while in the treatment area w/ my patient i overheard the dr telling a patient that she was "pretty old" and all she does is "whine and complain" about being tired and w/ her heart conditions wasnt someopne who should have a transplant, so she might as well jst stop treatment. she was upset and said how her husband was in the process of taking her home from the nursing home and she wanted to go home and she was talking about family and friend the dr cut her off and said im telling u its over y put urself thru it? after i was finished w/ my patient i went to the waiting room where the womans husband was tlaking about how good his wife has been feeling and shed b home in a few wks. that was her last treatment, she never made it home. i am so disgusted by this and i cant seem to get ahold of someone who beleives me or will do something about it.
i want to c something done about this. today i went in and while sitting in the waiting room the administrator sat at the receptionist desk w/ the window OPEN on the phone talking about a patient. i heard the name of the patient the name of the dr she was to go c a problem the family was having w/ the woman refusing treatment and getting a fistula and also who her power of attorney is along w/ some other person info i dont think anyone should have heard. this is how it always is. do these ppl not no of the HIPPA law?!!! whos higher that i could contact?
i just wanted to add that all of the old techs and nurses left that center and r working at another (it isn't a davita center but one owned by the drs who r the dr's of the davita center if that makes sense sorry) but the problem still remains w/ the administer and the old tech (and a new tech who has paired w/ the old tech making a little alliance)

[cicero]

Some where in the lobby there is a sheet of paper that describes the problem escalation chain in your location. If it is not there that is normally a state violation and you can call the state offices for health and get the names. Then you must formally complain.
These things cannot be allowed to continue and you are the one who can stop them.

[flipw]

You might want to consider consulting with an attorney. Sometimes a letter from a lawyer can work miracles.

[Josh]

Hello,

I have contact info you may use if you haven't contacted us already. You may report your situation to DaVita via a 800-400-8311 or GuestServices@davita.com.

[roscot50]

Originally Posted by Josh

Hello,

I have contact info you may use if you haven't contacted us already. You may report your situation to DaVita via a 800-400-8311 or GuestServices@davita.com.

I am sure that your situation as you have described it, is an anomoly. My Davita center has been wonderful to me. The nurses and techs have all been friendly, and supportive every step of the way. I am planning a trip soon out of state, and the secretary at the center , and the social worker have made all the arrangements for me to get dialysis while I am away. One of the treatments is even at another company's facility, and they still scheduled it for me. They have given me my meds, and they treat me with enormous respect and care while I am there. The doctors at the center are great, as well. It just so happens that the doctors at the center are the doctors who are treating me It's only my opinion, of course, but it seems to me that the situation at your center is caused by poor management. These things occur from the top down. People who do the work are disatisfied with thier working conditions, or the system at thier facility. Maybe the pay isn't what it should be, who knows? The fact is, these people should be reported, and soon. Immediately, if not sooner. If, as you say, patients have died as a result of the negligence of the staff, there are criminal charges to be brought. This is no mild matter. You should report this situation right away to the board of health in your state, or the insurance commisioner, or if no one else, the police. You should also be gathering as much information and documentation as possible to support your allegations. You can't just say this stuff without some proof that people can see. Good luck!

[irodeb]

Originally Posted by fedup

hi everyone. i am a caregiver for a young girl on dialysis. for 2 yrs now we have gone to her treatments with her (another caregiver and I). during this time we have had nothing but trouble from the davita workers. it is not just towards us (the caregivers) but also towards the patients. my grandmother also goes to this center and it concerns me that these are the people who are responsible for taking care of her. the girl i work with is a screamer she will lay and scream for no reason at all due to the disruptivness of this, we worked with her mother and got her to agree to medicate the girl so to provide a peaceful treatment for all involved. that was fine for a yr and a half now the nurses do not want her to be medicated. they want her to scream. however when she does scream they r rude to everyone. i am not saying just one or two of the nurses or techs but i do mean all of them.
there is also a problem of them locking the door to the treatment area and all the workers disappearing. this happened one day a machine began to beep and for about 20 minutes no one was available to check the man or his machine. i knocked on the door and i even yelled in thru the receptionists window. no one was there. when they did finally come the man had died!! a nurse actually argued with a couple of the techs about how she didn't want to do CPR! there have been many incidents like this. they r just mean nasty people to anyone who walks in the center. a new center will b opening in a few wks and almost all of the patients are transferring bc the morale is so negative in the current center. i was just wondering if anyone else has encountered anything like this. also, if u have what did u do about it? do u have any advice for me? thanks so much.

Wow!!! I don't have any advice, I'm not even on dialysis yet. But, I was very upset in reading this horror story. I've read others who complain about similar attitudes. Maybe these people are burned out, if that's the case, they should be replaced for the patients sake and for their own sakes.

That happened to me in the late 70s' after working 5 years in a Chicago area Trauma Center. Fortunately, I could see that I was losing my compassion, and sometimes short to patients. So, I transferred out to a medical ward, and got some therapy .

[lisadiciccio]

i am sorry to hear about your experience, although not surprised.. i fired my first davita pd nurse the first day i met her..lol.. she was training another nurse that was coming over from hemo.. and would not listen to the woman she was training... i finally told her and my social worker, i do not want her part of my care, cause if she can not listen to another nurse for something as simple as " the tube is secure".. she was not going to listen to me... and i will not stand for that.. i told my social worker....same as i tell everyone.. i will fire at will.. i know my body better that you do, and if you dont do your job, i will ride you like an ex-wife.they brought a more experienced pd nurse in from another city to finish training during my appointments and i showed both of them i knew what i was doing... and i love my current pd nurse... she is great... she helps me and i help her understand how i feel... and i can be very graphic... i tell all my doctors and nurses.. " you will feel how i feel, so you can understand your patients better"

[Suprduper]

Yes, I have had trouble with several nurses at my dialysis center. I just recently had a problem with the fact that each time I came to dialysis, I cannot seem to get on the dialysis machine close to the time I am suppose to get on. My FA just recently changed my time for getting onto the dialysis machine and I have not been able to get onto the dialysis machine on time. They usually come for me a few minutes after the time they are suppose to be put me on the dialysis machine. I am always very early for my dialysis time period but they just can't seem to get me onto the dialysis machine on time. I think a lot of time of being wasted especially when they come for me after the time I am supposed to be placed onto the machine because as you know I have to get my weight and temperature first before I can be placed on the machine along with getting a standing blood pressure which means that by the time they hook me up to the machine it is going to be late before I will be getting off simply because they were not able to place me onto the machine on time.

Because they can't seem to hardly ever place me onto the dialysis machine on time I have been telling these nurses that I want to get off at the time that I am suppose to get off. I feel that I have a right as a patient to let these nurses know that even though they are constantly bringing me in here late that I still want to get off at the time I am suppose to get off. At first I was not having any problems with this, but yesterday I was told by one of the of nurses that I would have to sign an AMA form which is an Against Medical Advice form because I was requesting to get off 15 minutes prior to the time she wanted me to get off. Does anyone know if I am required to sign an AMA if I decide to get off a few minutes earlier than the nurse wanted me to get off especially since I am always early for my dialysis time periods? I have never been late for my dialysis time periods simply because that is how I am when it comes to being on time for any type of appointments.

[Des]

I still think that you should stay on the machine the full period (even if you start late).

This is not like any other appointment.

Dialysis have to do in 4 hours what your kidney does 24h a day. By cutting into this you do not get rid of all the toxins.

Complain to the shift manager about the late starting time... but PLEASE DO NOT shorten your time on the machine. You are endangering your life in the long run.

[Suprduper]

I understand what you are saying but these nurses are consistently bringing me in late. At first I thought that it was just incidental but now I know that it is not and of course this is something hard to prove because as you know they are going to have the excuse of saying that it could not be helped and that they are doing the best that they can. At one time I could see that they were trying to get me in close to my time but it does not look that way at all. The guy who is always ahead of me has a fistula and I have a catheter, it seems he bleeds out sometimes or he is feeling weak or somethng. They used to pull his chair out to the side to let him recuperate but now I see him sitting in the chair trying to recuperate which means they probably did not feel like moving his chair or they just chose not to move his chair at all to allow him to recuperate.

There is a lady who comes in right before me and she haves a fistula also but she sometimes comes in a little bit late which means I have to always wait until she shows up before I can go in, again I still have to play the waiting game with these nurses. This is an elderly lady who sometimes have problems with having to place her needles in her arm.

At one time, I used to be able to go in close to my time period to get my weight and tempearature and go back out to the lobby to wait for them to call me so that even though they called me in a little bit late I would still be able to get in close to my time. But the FA decided to stop us from doing this anymore.

Even though I am losing a few minutes on my time, I feel good getting off my machine now along with having good blood pressures when I do get off. I no longer have extremely low blood pressures anymore which I feel good about because I am keeping a close eye on my dry weight requirement numbers. I am consistenty having between 2 to 3 kilos of fluid being taken off and the FA just recently took 15 minutes off my time even though I had already been doing this myself because of the nurses being so late in putting me onto the machine. Pretty soon I am going to have a stack of AMA's. Like I said I do understand that there may be a need for me to go in late sometimes but not three times out of a week consistently.

I will think about what you said but I can't promise you that I am going to allow myself to lie in that chair longer than I need to if you know what I mean. Thanks for your response.

[mrsacosta05]

To Fedup and anybody else that has had similar experiences - that is so horrible I'm sorry to hear you had to witness that!!! If the medical professionals don't under stand the concept of interpersonal communication, patient emplathy, RESPONSIBILITY and so on then they should NOT be in the medical field. Anything and everything does happen there will always be many many different patients with different manners/personalities. Especially when it comes to opinions, I think it's up to the patient if they want to continue on with treatment, from a Dr.'s perspective I can understand the frustration of treating the patients that do not do their part for their health but still, professionalism is a must!!!!!!! I really hope not all patients and caregivers experience this. Right now I am going to school to become a Medical Assistant and the end goal an RN, my husband has PKD and I want to learn everything and be able to take care of him and it just HORRIFIES me that there are so called MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS out there like this and I hope I don't ever have to be around it becuase I WILL NOT work with people like that! WOW

[Marina]

Hi Fedup,

another thing you can do is find which renal network you belong to (google renal network and find the one that represents your area).

The Renal Network, Inc., is a not-for-profit organization which monitors quality of dialysis care.


Good luck!