A machine failure mid-session has one priority: get you safely disconnected. The machine is a secondary concern.
What to know
- Stop the blood pump and clamp the lines as you were trained.
- If power is lost, use the manual hand crank to return blood if your machine has one.
- Disconnect using the emergency procedure, then apply pressure to needle sites.
- Call technical support once you are safely disconnected — not before.
- Practise the emergency disconnection drill regularly; it should be muscle memory.
Talk to your care team
This topic is part of Emergency Preparedness, one of ten modules in the Trivita Learning Hub. If anything here contradicts what your own nephrologist or dialysis nurse has told you, follow your care team — they know your prescription, your access and your history.
Trivita's dialysis nurses answer our care line 24 hours a day on 055 242 1070, including for people who are not yet our patients.
Education, not medical advice. This page explains home hemodialysis in general terms for patients and care partners in the UAE. It is reviewed by Trivita's Medical Director but cannot account for your individual circumstances. Never change a prescription, medication or technique based on this page alone.