Hey Amazing Dialysis Crew,
We know how busy things can get on the floor — alarms buzzing, patients chatting, labs rolling in, and your brain running a marathon. But when something’s off, we’ve gotta know when to loop in our nephrologists stat (and how to do it without a panic-sweat situation).
So here’s the scoop: We’ve created a quick, go-to SBAR tool just for YOU — dialysis-specific and nurse-tested.
Click Link Below to Grab It
This SBAR tool walks you through calling about:
Shortness of breath (they’re not huffin’ and puffin’ from a good story)
Critical potassium (cue the arrhythmia anxiety)
Critical hemoglobin (especially if they’re symptomatic)
Fever (and not the kind that gets cured with a popsicle)
Other times to call the nephrologist?
Here’s the unofficial (but oh-so-true) list:
Hypotension unresponsive to interventions (when that bolus just ain’t cutting it)
Access complications (clotting, bleeding, or “Houston we have a problem”)
Confusion or mental status changes (we love our chatty patients, but sudden confusion = red flag)
Chest pain or EKG changes
Suspected infection (access site, or systemic)
New medication interactions or unclear med orders (is it dialysis-safe?)
Significant fluid gain or overload between treatments
Patient refusing treatment when it’s unsafe to skip
Let’s make advocating for our patients smoother, and less scary. We’re here to support each other and keep our communication top-notch — so our nephrologists get the right info, right away.
Thanks for being the rockstars you are.
Your critical thinking saves lives every single shift.
Let’s keep learning and leaning on each other.
With admiration and coffee-fueled energy,
Lindsey & the DNSN Team