Hemodialysis Patient

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Ms. Poulos is a Staff RN in the Hemodialysis Unit. She is currently the primary nurse for five of our chronic dialysis patients. Each of her primary patients has exceeded the quality benchmarks in the areas of adequacy, anemia management and access. As a member of the interdisciplinary team she attends monthly care plan meetings and has made suggestions that have led to positive outcomes such as: changes in dry weights, medication reviews with the nephrologist to facilitate warranted medication adjustments as needed as well as referrals/close coordination with other disciplines such as vascular, endocrine, infection prevention, social services and oncology to meet the needs of her patients. She is able to quickly assess subtle changes in her …show more content…

Poulos provided support to one of her patients during a stressful time when diagnosed with prostate cancer. She was diligent during his six week course of radiation treatment. The patient was monitored closely for any untoward symptoms that could interfere with his dialysis treatments. The fluid gains and/or losses between treatments interrupted his normal bowel function. She worked with the physicians to achieve a positive outcome for the patient. Ms. Poulos had another patient she worked closely with who had a few hospitalizations in this past year for ischemic colitis. Being a fragile older man the surgery team felt he needed to be treated conservatively. Taking care of this patient was challenging because it was difficult to keep his blood pressure elevated to prevent further ischemic issues however her diligence in caring for the patient lead to his success.
Ms. Poulos was responsible for managing the Dialysis Flu Clinic. She was responsible for giving the patients their vaccinations and tracking those that received the vaccine outside of the VA. Her tracking included: whether the patient received the high dose vs. the normal strength, any refusals, placement of vaccination and the date. The tracking was captured in CPRS to make sure the patient’s medical records remained up to

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