What is most challenging about dialysis patient care? To manage patient care well, one has to manage the patient holistically and all angles involved. Some of these angles are out of the patient's control like support at home, financial support, etc.
Physical and verbal abuse by the patient toward dialysis staff or others is the most extreme example of difficult patient behavior and may result in involuntary discharge from the dialysis facility.
Dialysis nurses typically work long hours due to the nature of the dialysis process. Some find that these long hours can lead to burnout. You might spend 12 hours on your feet performing important, regimented tasks, so it can be tiring both physically and mentally.
You may have some discomfort as the needles are put into your access site. Over time, people usually get used to being around these needles and equipment. The dialysis treatment itself is painless.
Assesses, plans, implements, documents and evaluates care to ensure a coordinated holistic approach which best meets the needs of the patient. Ensures that dialysis equipment (i.e. dialysis machines, water purifier, etc.) is working properly by testing, calibrating and troubleshooting before initiating care.
Patients treated with hemodialysis (HD) may experience acute complications during dialysis. These include cardiac arrhythmias, intradialytic hypotension or hypertension, dialysis disequilibrium syndrome, reactions to the HD membrane, air embolism, bleeding, and seizures.
Seek Support. Stay connected to your family and friends. Being on dialysis can be full of ups and downs, so you will benefit from having people in your life to talk to and lean on. If you're feeling overwhelmed, depressed, or isolated, find a counselor or dialysis support group.
The only variables are dialysate volume, flow, dwell time, and composition. Thanks to modification in these aspects of the dialysate, peritoneal dialysis techniques with different clearances and ultrafiltration rates can be accomplished.
Why are emergencies challenging in dialysis? They are likely to be disruptive, but we cannot predicts how. What kinds of disaster planning do the CMS rules require dialysis clinics to do? Planning, training, patient tracking, documentation, and communication.
While the USRDS reports cardiovascular disease and infections as the leading CODs among dialysis patients [7], we found that KPSC death records indicated diseases of the circulatory system (35.7%), endocrine/nutritional/metabolic disease (24.2%), and diseases of the genitourinary system (12.9%) to be the three most ...
Monitor serum electrolytes, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, and hemoglobin and hematocrit levels before and after dialysis. Monitor fluid status. Monitor coagulation studies because heparin is used to prevent clotting during dialysis.
Removing excessive fluid gain can make treatment uncomfortable. Patients can experience a sudden drop in blood pressure, which usually occurs toward the end of a dialysis treatment. You may feel nauseated, weak and tired because your body may not be used to having so much fluid removed at once.
As a nurse, it's important to have compassion in patients. When asked this question, consider giving an example of a time when you encountered a difficult patient and helped to improve the patient's outcome. Make sure to mention if you provided extra resources that helped make the patient more comfortable.
Supervise direct patient care, perform patient assessments, develop and administer dialysis plans, analyze patient data, administer medications, fluid therapy/blood products, and other treatments per physician orders.
People may feel numb or fail to accept the reality of the situation. Anger, sadness, worry, and guilt are also common. People may dwell on the past, wondering what they could have done differently. But the emotions aren't always negative.
Several studies have shown a decreased quality of life and increased depression in the hemodialysis patient population. Poor quality of life itself is also reported to increase complications such as depression and malnutrition and even increase mortality.