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Monday, February 28, 2011

Dialysis

The other day we got a call to our local dialysis center. Let me tell you how much I hate these places. When I worked as an EMT we transferred a lot of patients to and from facilitates just like this one. The people aren't happy, the place has a distinct odor and the staff was always upset that you were too early or too late. Thankfully I only go to these centers now for critical patients.


This time an EMT crew was there to pick up their patient. She was a 30 year old female that didn't look as if she had taken care of herself during her short life. We were there because she was nauseated when the BLS crew showed up to take her home and when they took her BP they discovered that it was low. To their credit they recognized that ALS procedures may be needed and they called for us.

We showed up at the same time as AMR. While they grabbed the gurney I grabbed their drub box and airway bag. Once inside I just acted as a super EMT doing everything that the medic wanted before he would ask. The staff had already set up an IV so once the paramedic finished up his assessment we loaded up.

A fairly short but typical call to the dialysis center.

2 comments:

Jen at Cabin Fever said...

Its so so common to have low BP after dialysis. It can even take an hour to resolve. Sometimes fluid replacement right after dialysis isn't a good idea either since it can actually overload the already difficult to manage kidneys. Just curious, what was her BP? And the dialysis center always makes me sad when I visit there. Its just not a happy place :(

Firefighter/Paramedic said...

Her BP was in the high 60's systolic. All we wanted to do was get it to about 90 systolic. It is such a delicate balance.

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