My co-worker and I came into work one day to a machine pulled off the floor because it would not power up. We flipped the switch on the back of the machine to on and then called the pct back to our office and had her show us how she had tried to power up the machine. She tried to defend herself by saying she did not know that there was a switch on the back and now here's the kicker she's now a nurse.

Had a Male RN call me out just to tell me "there's no toilet paper in the mens room" i reply " did you check the ladies room that's where we keep the case" Rn says " hell i ain't going in the womens restroom" so i went ahead and just got some from the ladies room and restock the mens room. i thought to myself what a lazy ass. of course we're stationed at the unit.

I once had a co-worker tell me this story. A clinic manager called him and reported that all the machines said no water. Trying to help resolve the problem over the phone he asked her to go into the water room. She refused saying the ro wasnt running. After asking why the ro wasnt running and a few other questions, he found out that there was a water main break across the street. He explained to the clinic manager why there was a no water alarm and why the ro wasnt running. The clinic manager's response was you told me that the "ro made water, so i why does it mater if there a water main break outside."

From the good old days when Bicarb and HIGH FLUX were the new things.

1) Had the Manager of an 8 station unit I had under contract, call me at 4:00 am to ask - when was I going to do PM's on their 10 Cobe C-2 machines. Here's the kicker - the machines were brand new (less than 200 hours) and the unit had a total of 8 patients - of course they ran 2 shifts !!! I told her given that it was March and based on the usage, probably not until around November or December.

2) Got a 6:00 am call from the Charge Nurse that all 10 Drake Willock 4215 machines were alarming low temp and low conductivity but the 6 Cobe C2Rx machines were fine. Got up, drove over to the unit immediately noticed that the dialysate flow meters on all of the Drake's were pegged high - I lowered the flows back to 500 cc's on all of the machines and within a minute or so the alarms all cleared. I asked the C.N. why were the flows all turned up - she said, "Dr X said we were going do "High Flux" so we could turn the flows all the way up"! I had a conversation with Dr X later that morning.

3) Took over a unit that had Fresenius D's that had never been properly maintained. All of the machines were missing the lower back panels. I asked one of the staff why all the panels were off - he said, "so it would be easier when we get a flow alarm to kick the pumps".

When I was a field service rep for Fresenius, I got a service call. The customer had 2008K machines that the warranty had just expired. The biomed stated the machine was leaking and I needed to come fix it. I advised him that Fresenius would charge him $$$ for me to drive out there and told him he might want to check for any loose connections. He refused and said he wasnt touching them until he went to class and I needed to get there ASAP. I arrived and found that the hose clamp on the inlet water quick connect was loose (biomed installed them). The biomed and his boss were there complaining about the machine leaking with such low hours on them. I tighten the hose clamp and showed both of them.

6 hours travel time - $780
60 seconds of service - $2.16
Look on the biomeds boss face - priceless

Back in the late 80's at an old Vivra clinic we pumped our acid into jugs from 3 storage tanks. We had 1K, 2K and 3K. I was a lowley re-use tech back then only in the biz for about 8 months while I went to college. Well we had run out of 3K acid for whatever reason and I told the "charge" nurse about it. She informed me that I could mix 1K and 2K and we would be fine. When I started to question her on that she shot me a glare and said, (I kid you not), "1K plus 2K equals 3K!......DUH!". She remained an employee for about 8 years. /shrug

John B

My favorite is ACDR connector error on a c3.

Many times what will happen is the lower bicart arm (for those who have never seen a c3-it sits on the lower left hand side of the machine) while appearing to be closed will not be. Tapping it with your foot will snap the arm into place and wala!! the alarm is cleared.

Love the reaction from the PCT/RN when I walk up to the machine-kick it-and it's fixed.

I have a good one! I had an R.N. come into my office to tell me that the wires on the 2008K machine were "Very Hot". I rushed out thinking I had a short in the power supply or wall outlet. When I got out there she pointed to the "hoses" and the machine was in heat disinfect. I just looked at her and walked away.

I had a patient care tech call me at 4:30 am while setting up to tell me there was something "bad wrong" with the arterial pump on an H machine because the saline bag was blown up the size of a basketball...I asked her if she was sure she put the lines in the right direction and she hung up on me...lol...these stories are great guys keep them coming.

I remember an email I received a few years back about Qantas airlines and their maintenance engineers. There was one service request they received that there was something loose in the cockpit. The service report had the reply "something tightened in the cockpit". So when I had a machine waiting for me that said there was something loose in the power supply, I couldn'e pass up the opportunity to respond with "something tightened in the power supply". It was actually the transformer rattling but it fixed the problem and nobody was the wiser.

One Friday night, as I was launching out into the bay go fishing, I received the dreaded call, " We've got 7 machines down and need you to come in before the next AM". Of course, we had already left the dock and I didn't want to swim back, so I figured I would run to the clinic right off the boat when we returned from our excursion. As the stench of squid filled the repair area, I realized that all of the "down" machines had the same problem, Blood pressure cuff in-op. The nurse that had pulled all of the machines said, and I qoute, "Every machine I put in that spot has the same problem, the one out there now is doing it". I took the cuff, thanked the gods, and promptly took a shower.

how will you be able to smile when your handler is rude and doesn't know good manners and right conduct?

Welcome to the world of dialysis...gotta love it or find a new job because it's not going to change...these stories are a form of therapy for me because I've been there..we all have

One morning I got to my office and found a note attached to my computer. The clinic opener stated we needed to order more RO water for the Phoenix meter tri station because the bottle was empty! I couldn't believe it.

quote:

Originally posted by RUserious:
I had a nurse call me at 5:30am because there was no paper towels in the towel dispenser...I go in to work at 8:00 WTF...How is that a tech. emergency

I had something close happen once. After a day of work I got a call at home to let me know that one of the toilets was plugged. I said "Aren't there 3 other bathrooms?" WTF Use a different toilet!!!