Table 3.
Exemplar quotes from staff and patients on the theme of the role of the dialysis nurse
| The Role of the Nurse | Quote |
|---|---|
| Dialysis staff | |
| IDE is not the nurse’s role | “Well, it’s some extra work, to be honest. Yeah. At first, it was kind of—well, we have a couple of studies ongoing, besides the ones that we have to do as a nurse for our patients and then answering alarms.” Q16 |
| “Yeah, pretty much it’s the staff who will be doing it hands on, like, because I don’t know if they’re [the study staff] going to be here for, let’s say, the whole time for that study or not, it just falls to the nurses who’s also doing the things that they have to do. Know what I mean?” Q17 | |
| “So that’s the hard part, I find, like, with patients who don’t know as well as others know, what they have to do. I think we have to do some minor adjustments on the bikes; seems to be a little bit more tension, just a little bit less tension, that’s something it’s quickly, we can do that and walk away; they’ll carry on with whatever they are doing. But some patients, like I said, who are not—I can’t say with it, but not as comfortable may be doing the exercises as others, it’s a little harder to—for us to monitor whatever they do is proper. I don’t know, it’s maybe they need a bit more education or its maybe they are not good people for the study.” Q18 | |
| Awareness of their role in IDE | “No. I think it’s just who it comes from is definitely the importance. They tend to put a lot of trust in the doctors, so I believe if it [encouragement] comes from a doctor, then it would affect their thinking a little bit more than if it was to come from a nurse or somebody that does exercise and is promoting the exercise. I think if it came from a doctor, the importance of it, then it probably would be more important to them.” Q19 |
| Knowledge about IDE | “Yeah. It’s actually pretty surprising. Some patients that you wouldn’t think would have the stamina really enjoyed it and really did the bike for, like, 45 minutes…and some patients you would think that would appreciate doing it didn’t want to become involved…some of the patients, like, in their 70s, 80s, really enjoyed it.” Q20 |
| “I think they’re [study staff] limited to the number of patients that they have on there, just because of our patients—the patients that we have there…their mobility is decreased already, they’re sick.” Q21 | |
| Patients | |
| IDE is the nurse’s role | “But I was also kind of disappointed that they weren’t more enthusiastic about having the patients maybe do a task, enjoy their task, occupy their time more, and to have a benefit to the patient…That’s what—that kind of wasn’t—didn’t sit well with me necessarily, that that they should be willing to do everything for the patient…” Q22 |
| “I mean, even if I’m done my leg exercises and I’m sitting there with 5 pounds of weight on each ankle, I still need someone to undo that, get the bike, get it set up, and ready to go for the next thing. And you’re busy or [person A]’s busy—whoever’s there—so the nurses could handle that job quite easily.” Q23 | |
| “It’s one more job for them. I’ve heard from other nurses that, ‘Oh, this is—why do we have to do this?’” Q24 | |
| The influence of personal values about exercise | “I think that they should realize that exercise is important for us people, and that they should maybe show a little more enthusiasm towards us doing some exercise. But I know that they’re overworked and understaffed, so what can you say?” Q25 |
| “It depends on the nurse you have. Some days, it’ll be problematic, other days, it’ll be just fine. Depends on who is your nurse that day.” Q26 | |
| “…She [the nurse] would stop and chat about the stuff and she’d get a rubber band and do some exercises, too…You know, because she exercises a lot herself, right?” Q27 |
IDE, intradialytic exercise; Q, quote.