KidneyViews
Welcome to the non-profit Medical Education Institute's Home Dialysis Central blogspot! This page is an umbrella under which Home Dialysis Central staff and guests can share their perspectives about home therapies and what we need to do to raise their profile and enable more people to use them. We'd like your comments as well! Bookmark our site and like us on Facebook! Help us tell the world about home dialysis.
We have a "lifestyle bible" for sale that can help you learn about dialysis options. Help, I Need Dialysis! We also have prepared some slideshows on how to have a good future with kidney disease.
Humanizing Dialysis: Trying to Make Something Good Out of a Really Bad Diagnosis
(12 comments)
It is important that the nurse be aware of how their patient clients learn; if you don’t do that first, you are wasting valuable time.
Published on 03/31/2016 by Gale Schulke, RN, CDN
A Rational Approach to Dialysis Time and Frequency
(24 comments)
What is abundantly clear is that longer and more frequent dialysis makes sense, no matter from what angle dialysis is viewed.
Published on 03/24/2016 by Dr. John Agar
New Medicare-Covered Service: Advance Care Planning
(0 comments)
A new Medicare payment policy may encourage nephrologists and qualified non-physician practitioners to have discussions about advance care planning (ACP) with those who have kidney disease and kidney failure.
Published on 03/17/2016 by Beth Witten, MSW, ACSW, LSCSW
Dying for Improvement: The Not-So-Hidden Cost of Harsh In-Center HD?
(13 comments)
I have long wondered if the high rate of death in the first 90-120 days of U.S. in-center HD (35%!)1 is caused—at least in part—by overly harsh ultrafiltration.
Published on 03/10/2016 by Dori Schatell, MS, Executive Director, Medical Education Institute
Providing More Holistic CKD Care
(2 comments)
Studies have shown that those who receive CKD education have higher knowledge scores, are more interested in choosing a home treatment especially PD, have slower CKD progression, increased fistula placement and use, and are hospitalized less.
Published on 03/03/2016 by Beth Witten, MSW, ACSW, LSCSW
Tags: Making dialysis better,
“Doc, How Long Do I Need to Be on Dialysis?”
(9 comments)
For those where facility dialysis is the only option, we should not be “selling” the message that a short time in the chair is enough when we know it is not, and when we know that longer time is simply better.
Published on 02/25/2016 by Dr. John Agar
Tags: Making dialysis better,
Thoughts on Home Haemodialysis in Australia and the US, from a Patient Perspective
(7 comments)
How do we engender change for the better? By convincing the people who can make change that it is in their interest to promote long, slow, gentle nocturnal dialysis.
Published on 02/18/2016 by Henry P. Snickelsnorter
Tags: Making dialysis better,
New CMS Reporting Requirement for 2016: Clinical Depression Screening for Dialysis
(6 comments)
While research has shown that depression increases the risk of hospitalization and death, it is still underdiagnosed and undertreated in people on dialysis.
Published on 02/11/2016 by Beth Witten, MSW, ACSW, LSCSW
What Can We Really Conclude About the FHN Trials and Mortality on Frequent Hemodialysis?
(3 comments)
In 2015, investigators in the Frequent Hemodialysis Network (FHN) Trial Group reported long-term mortality patterns in each of the Daily and Nocturnal Trials.
Published on 02/04/2016 by Eric Weinhandl, PhD, MS
From Compliance to Concordance
(10 comments)
Why are we so bad at following doctors’ orders? Is there something wrong with us? Is there something wrong with the recommendations? To be honest, I think it's neither!
Published on 01/28/2016 by Henning Sondergaard
Tags: Making dialysis better,