Fresenius Home Hemo Training

Hi all. My husband and I have just finished the training for his home hemodialysis, and frankly, it wasn't good. Sadly, we didn't realize how lacking it was till we got home this week.

We expected there to be an established curriculum, but our trainer did things his own way. We had to ask repeatedly to get any written materials, because he prefers to train by showing. It took three weeks to get copies of the manuals for the machines. We didn't realize until halfway through the program that there are a series of online lessons we were supposed to work our way through.  I'm not sure if he ever mentioned them or not. We'd show up, learn how to set up the machine, cannulate, and tear it down again. Occasionally we'd get an alarm and he'd show us which buttons to push, but we got no training at all on any alarms that didn't happen to go off. All he said, when asked abcout it, was that we'd get a book that would tell us what to do. There were no drills or practice sessions to learn what to do if something goes wrong.

He was also in charge of ordering the supplies we'll need on an ongoing basis. We never got a list of what we're supposed to get, so there was no way to check and make sure we had everything. The first day home he came to sit with us through it, and discovered we didn't have some supplies that were needed and he had to drive back to the clinic and get them. We thought that took care of the issue, but today we had a leak in the SAC so we needed to hang bags instead, only to find out that we didn't have any of the "chicken foot" connectors needed. My husband called and since it was the end of the day and everyone was leaving, they put some in a bag and hung it on the front door so he could drive down to get it.

We also weren't thrilled by his anti-Covid vaccine opinions, and were shocked to find out that he's not vaccinated. It's hard to understand how that's not a requirement.

We're both taken aback by how lackadaisical the process has been. Is this normal? We're probably going to ask for a meeting with the clinic director, or at least write a letter. I just feel we deserve better.