Has anyone else noticed that the Quality has gotten worse over the past few months?
I have noticed the following:
Packaging the tubing in cheaper plastic bags
Cheaper tubing itself.
Quiality of the cartridges are not as they were before months ago
When receiving supplies, some of the boxes are hideously dirty and the one piece of tape that holds the boxes together has been ripped off. Some of the boxes have been completely opened when I receive them.
Caps missing or removed from bags.
I have run into the situation where I was ready to do a treatment and went to connect the arterial line and the end was melted together into the tubing. Not sure how this passed quality. .
Maybe its me, but does anyone else notice any changes. Nothing wrong with tring to save money, but not when it comes to our health.
[quote=whatdoyouthink;11202]Has anyone else noticed that the Quality has gotten worse over the past few months?
I have noticed the following:
Packaging the tubing in cheaper plastic bags
Looks all the same to me except the new main holding plastic is lighter…perhaps to reduce weight, but that has not posed any health hazards at all…
Cheaper tubing itself.
The tubing is still the same, that had not changed…
Quiality of the cartridges are not as they were before months ago
The cartridges still look the same except the holder plate is just lighter in weight…once again, I guess they want to concerve and reduce shipping costs…
When receiving supplies, some of the boxes are hideously dirty and the one piece of tape that holds the boxes together has been ripped off. Some of the boxes have been completely opened when I receive them.
I think that’s the shippers responsibility…you need to report to NxStage when the shipper ships your supplies damaged. At one point I recieved my supplies by a sloppy shipper. The person bringing them, but overall 99% of the time all my supplies have arrived in good shape…
Caps missing or removed from bags.
This problem has been addressed, before they were too tight…some patients had a hard time uncapping them.
I have run into the situation where I was ready to do a treatment and went to connect the arterial line and the end was melted together into the tubing. Not sure how this passed quality. .
You need to report that to NxStage…
Maybe its me, but does anyone else notice any changes. Nothing wrong with tring to save money, but not when it comes to our health.
We notice it but also as patients you need to get involved by reporting these things with NxStage…
anytime we have any trouble with NxStage’s gear we call tech support. One of our favorites is when the Heparin pump line does not have a hole in it. You can’t even get air through the line with a syringe. I have seen one severely mutated arterial line connection. I am probably big time responsible for the caps issue, sorry. During training we were having a terrible time with the caps being to tight. A NxStage tech support crew was in our clinic and they very next week the caps were loose. Few times do we find them off though. When we open the bags we turn them upside down so that the cap is on the top. We carefully cut along the top of the bag with our box cutter, yes we do this- get over it. We reach in and make sure the cap is tight. Simple and no lost bags in awhile. As for shipping issues. We have had some beat down boxes and some not even taped boxes. Most of that has to do with the shipping company and it should be reported right away. My one fear with NxStage is that they will not be able to stay afloat and will have to close their doors. Personally, I think that would just about spell death for me. I know that is a bit extreme, but if you knew all about my situation you would probably agree. My one big complaint today was that it took tech support thirty minutes to get back to us this morning, WTF?? That is totally uncalled for in my opinion. They have very punctual up to now. I geuss if we had a real emergency we would of called the emergency nurse number for my clinic too. So I can’t really say that thirty minutes is all that bad.
One thing I am going to do if they have stock available is try and invest in them soon. Maybe after the new year I can rustle up some money to invest with. I really need this company to keep moving forward. So maybe that makes my opinion biased.
LSB
I’m on nxstage and like I posted before had what I think are minor bugs that I’ve worked out. When I talked to nxstage people they have been more than happy to answer any questions.
The only thing I can think is maybe the needs of nxstage things is really heavy and maybe they don’t have all the people up to speed?
Hi All, The very first time I used a cartridge the red end of where the saline is attached was fussed together and I did not know it. It broke off in my hand. Put another cartridge in and called tech support. They reported it and I was sent a box to send it back.
I have found Nxstage to be very helpful and have not had to wait more than a minute even on a week-end when I know they call the tech at home. ( I could hear the kids in the back round.)
Pat
We asked patient who is on the NxStage how he rates their service. He said although the majority of techs and customer service are usually VERY helpful and polite, there are a couple who have an attitude. And he says the 24/7 service promise is not what it seems , because there have been a number of times that he called and got left holding on waiting for a tech and no one answered for an excessive amount of time. He brought this to their attention the first time and got apologies and the promise that they were “working on improvements”. He got the impression that they were actually understaffed and that they had organization/coordination problems. After the apology, he hoped the service would pick up, but finds that there are still times of aggravation because they don’t answer the phone in a timely manner. Also, he said it is a misconception to think that they are there in case of a technical problem that must be solved quickly, as obviously if they don’t always answer the phone prompty, one is out of luck if one needs help in a hurry. He said they can be very good at guiding one through technical problems IF they answer the phone in time, but they continue to drag their heels in this dept. on occassion. And he has also been left hanging several times when technical did not have a ready answer on certain issues and promised to have someone call back, but did not follow through. Another thing is, he found out that surprisingly, but not really, most of the techs have no previous dialysis experience. Most have a medical background of some kind and have been put through a training course for the Nxstage machine, but lack the type experience that would allow them to convey to NxStage consumers those nuances of the machine/tx that only an experienced dialysis nurse or tech can know. So, he sees this as a downfall. When he talks with them they often don’t understand dialysis issues as directly related to the machine operation. They are trained similar to the way most dialysis staff are with mostly black and white concepts. So, they can’t convey that middle ground that is so essential. His opinion is, they do a very good job in a number of ways, but need improvement in areas mentioned.
I spent the majority of my working life starting, running or sitting on the boards of early stage high technology companies. You can’t imagine the “controlled chaos” that unavoidably accompanies a small, often marginally funded, startup company whose business is doubling every few months. Furthermore, in healthcare the margin and tolerance for error is very small.
In my view NxStage has done a superlative job thus far in managing a very difficult process and in so doing is literally saving the lives of hundreds – and I think in the future – thousands of lives by providing an option for frequent dialysis. I’m sure they welcome factual feedback about their product, particularly deficiencies they can address, but otherwise I think they deserve our encouragement – and thanks.
I agree completely with Mel. I certainly aproach pioneering the use of these machines as a colaborator. Working together we can help to ensure that the technology will improve every year.
[QUOTE=whatdoyouthink;11202]Has anyone else noticed that the Quality has gotten worse over the past few months?
I have noticed the following:
Packaging the tubing in cheaper plastic bags
Cheaper tubing itself.
Quiality of the cartridges are not as they were before months ago
When receiving supplies, some of the boxes are hideously dirty and the one piece of tape that holds the boxes together has been ripped off. Some of the boxes have been completely opened when I receive them.
Caps missing or removed from bags.
I have run into the situation where I was ready to do a treatment and went to connect the arterial line and the end was melted together into the tubing. Not sure how this passed quality. .
Maybe its me, but does anyone else notice any changes. Nothing wrong with tring to save money, but not when it comes to our health.[/QUOTE]Maybe it’s not you Bill I’ve just had a conversation with my wife about money , the kidney(dialysis) industry, goverment and our son’s health … Guess who’s on top … for now… so they think!!! Richard C/O Jessie
>>>Start Rant<<<This thread really aggrevates me. The post heather posted about a patient that she knows says they do not get back or answer the phone on technical issue of urgency. If the issue is that urgent you should be calling your nurses first. The most latency I have seen so far was thirty minutes on a non urgent call. Heather, what is your motivation here? Same question to Whatdoyouthink. Sure seems like some people are trying to drum up some NxStage bashing. I was with fresenius on CAPD for the most part of 11 years and I could sure say some bad things about them. I used Baxter some on CAPD and I could say bad things about them too. I left baxter and went back to fresenius cause I liked freseniuses equipment better, but I am not going to say baxter is a bad company. I am not going to get into the problems I had with fresenius either thoguh. Because I am just thankfull to of been able to use their equipment that kept me alive for so long. Now I use NxStage and I am very happy with them as a company. From all aspects of it, tech support, ordering, equipment. ALso I think plenty of others of us are too. I would say that if you have a beef with NxStage take it up with them. Don’t come onto an informative board and try and take your beef out here. Also if you do not use NxStage I can not see how you can have an opinion, Heather. I know you are a nurse, but do you think about what you post before you post it. Do you think about the damage it could do to others, like myself. If NxStage is failing, I would be the first to say so. I do not see that even in the posts that have been made against NxStage. None of the information says to me that NxStage has a problem. It sounds more like people not willing to take responsibility for themselves to me. As for the equipment, I ahve only been using for a short while, but it all looks pretty primo to me. Mind you I was on CAPD for 11 years and I saw thing change over time. Somethings I hated, but I got used to them and they didn’t put me in any form of danger. When using any form of dialysis equipment you have to check everything before you use it. If you do not then you are not qualified to be using the equipment. Yes there are flaws in the equipment from time to time. That is why I inspect everything I can before I use it. When I find flaws I report them. As for quality control, Not every piece of every lot can be inspected. How did this get past quality control? Do you have any idea how rediculous that sounds from a manufacturing perspective? So I geuss I have to ask is frensenius or Aksys and better? Are they portable and self contained? Can I still rent the same apartment that I am now or do I have to find a landlord that will let me modify their apartment? Do you realize how hard it is to find an apartment like the one I have in Berkeley, CA.? If Fresenuis or Aksys can keep up with NxStage in these fields then maybe I would think about Changing over, but only when I see what these problems are with NxStage. I just don’t see it being a problem with NxStage though. >>>END RANT<<<
LSB
“I just don’t see it being a problem with NxStage though.”
I don’t either… In fact I am on the other board that Heather said the person was complaining on and I just don’t recall her saying anything as negative as Heather relayed here, but I could have missed something I guess.
Heather, I would also like to know what your motivation is? You seem determined to bring bad press to NxStage. IMO
Way to go, Leafsunbear! Can’t have said it any better than you, or Mel. It’s not a perfect world, nor is equipment nor manufacturing perfect, but it is up to you as the consumer to make sure you know emergency procedures to disconnect, more than a basic understanding of the mechanics of the equipment, and have confidence in your back up support whether it be NxStage or whomever, and your home training RN support. To agree with Bill, it is up to all of us to work out those kinks when they occur in order that we continue to assure optimal functioning of the equipment not just for the current users, but the future users of any equipment as well. As for Heather, why for goodness sake would you post something that could quite possibly put the fear of God in such a vulnerable population of home dialyzors? Myself a RN, I question the wording of that post as well as quite a few of your other posts. That REALLY gets my goat. Sorry for my rant but if you have doubts, take it up with NxStage and/or research it on your own - I know this is a free board but sometimes saying nothing is much better than saying something without thinking about the serious repercussions of your statements. You underestimate these home dialyzors. Their motivation is optimal living with CKD5 and NONE of them have approached this without intellect and committment. I wonder what the motives are of the posters because it really appears that they are indeed NxStage bashing here. My interest here is purely educational - I teach PD - but very soon in the future we are adding Home HD and I will be the trainer.
I have noticed the packaging plastic getting thinner, but I haven’t seen any problems with the product. I love my NxStage and pray that they can hang in there long enough to make a consistent profit. I believe Jeffrey Burbank is doing one hell of a job and his commitment and enthusiasm is exhibited in everyone staff member that I have communicated with. Erich