Under normal conditions, your kidneys are responsible for multiple functions such as cleaning blood, producing hormones, balancing electrolytes, and maintaining blood pressure in the body. When the kidneys fail, blood pressure will rise, wastes/toxins will remain in the body’s circulation, and the body will retain excess water which can lead to inadequate production of red blood cells (Source 6). These symptoms of kidney failure are a medical emergency and call for intervention such as a kidney transplant. The wait for a kidney can be lengthy; therefore a process known as dialysis can be a life sustaining measure until a suitable donor is matched. Dialysis has been found to temporarily alleviate the condition, but only for an average …show more content…
Once the Dialysis filters the blood, the clean blood is returned to the patient through another tube that’s injected into the patient (Picture A). Even though this procedure is done under supervision in the security of a hospital and does a more than adequate job of performing the functions of a normal kidney, there are some disadvantages. For one, the dialysis process is a very strict and time consuming. The schedule requires treatment 3 times a week for 4-5 hours (Source 6). This time commitment will most likely to be very inconvenient and make the previous life style of the patient difficult. Secondly, if proper cleansing routines are not followed, it is also possible for the patient to receive an infection. A third disadvantage is the constant insertion of needles into the patient which can not only cause infection/irritation if the needles are unsterile, but can lead to stress for the patient if they have a fear of them. Another disadvantage is that patients often report increased itchy skin, of which there has yet to be found a soothing remedy. A fifth disadvantage is that some patients on dialysis establishing insomnia/restless leg syndrome, which can lead to sleep apnea, headache, depression, and decreased alertness (Source 2). However, unlike the itchy skin, the symptom of insomnia has multiple effective treatments. A final disadvantage of hemodialysis is a
Due to the IV, the patient’s sodium, potassium, and chloride levels returned to normal. Restoration of electrolytes happened due to rehydration. Kidneys stand in control for electrolyte and liquid equilibrium inside the body. When experiencing kidney failure, doctors use IV to restore the body to its normal functioning
The patient is an 80-year-old female who is brought to the ED referred from the hemodialysis unit because they discovered a history of a fall from an upright position 2 days prior to her presentation. There is no further history available except from her sister who noted fall when the patient was tryng to to get some water. There was evidently no loss consciousness or seizure activity. The patient has severe underlying dementia cannot provide additional history. Her medical history is significant for diabetes mellitus, hypertension, end-stage renal disease, she has had previous TIA, anemia and peripheral arterial disease. Initial lab work up reveals her to be anemic with a hemoglobin 8.9, hematocrit 20.4, hyponatremic with a sodium 130, chloride of 89, and albumin of
According to American Cancer Society, in our bodies most people are born with two bean shaped organs, found attached to the back wall of the abdomen, these are called kidneys. As you grow in life your kidneys have multiple jobs, but the biggest job is that they act as a filter in your body. They will take in the blood and filter any substance not needed, such as excess water, salt, and other waste. Once the process of filtering anything bad begins, your kidneys will kick out what we know as urine. American Cancer Society says the kidneys will also “help keep your blood pressure controlled”, by making a hormone called, renin. Need more red blood cells? Don’t worry, your kidneys will make another hormone, known as erythropoietin, sending a message
Many patients must attend numerous appointments and even have to go through dialysis (Berger np). The alternative to a kidney transplant is dialysis. There are two types of dialysis; hemodialysis and petoneal dialysis. Out of these two methods, hemodialysis is 90% more common than petoneal dialysis (“Statistics np). Like any other medicine, hemodialysis has drawbacks. Hemodialysis is constraining and inconvenient (“Statistics np). Patients are tethered to a machine for three- to four-hour sessions in a clinic three times per week (“Statistics np). Despite the exhaustion that dialysis causes for patients, it is only a temporary treatment to a life-threatening problem. Only 35% of patients remain alive after five years of dialysis (“Statistics
A vascular access is a hemodialysis patient’s lifeline. A vascular access makes life-saving hemodialysis treatments possible. Hemodialysis is a treatment for kidney failure that uses a machine to send the patient’s blood through a filter, called a dialyzer, outside the body. The access is a surgically created vein used to remove and return blood during hemodialysis. The blood goes through a needle, a few ounces at a time. The blood then travels through a tube that takes it to the dialyzer. Inside the dialyzer, the blood flows through thin fibers that filter out wastes and extra fluid. The machine returns the filtered blood to the body through a different tube. A vascular access lets large amounts of blood flow continuously during hemodialysis
Anemia has long been recognized as a serious health problem in patients requiring dialysis. Successful treatment of anemia (i.e., increasing the hematocrit towards normal) in such patients is associated with reduced morbidity/mortality and significant improvements in cardiovascular and brain function as well as quality of life.
Kidney Dialysis is a procedure to diffuse waste from the blood system, eliminating unwanted water through an ultrafiltration system from the blood. The two kidneys are located on both of the back of your abdominal cavity. Its purpose is to allow individuals to have normal lives. In 2010 statically patience receiving dialysis in the U.S., approximately 414,000. The young Dutch physician Dr. Willem Kolff created the first dialysis in 1943. This research paper will explore the beginning of kidney dialysis; its benefits, the two types of dialysis, disadvantages and advantages.
The kidneys are the organs in the body that serves a number of functions, including filtering waste products from the blood, regulating blood pressure and red blood cell production in the body, and balancing electrolytes. When kidney failure sets in, a number of symptoms can be experienced by patients that results from the build-up of waste products and excess fluid in the body. This disruption of the kidneys’ function can lead to symptoms such as weakness, shortness of breath, lethargy, swelling, confusion, sleep disruption, nausea and vomiting, and loss of appetite, among other unpleasant symptoms. Kidney disease can be caused by a number of underlying diseases and conditions, and while some caused of kidney failure are treatable, it can
These patients were identified from the data available from medical coding systems at Royal Victoria Hospital. The sampling methodology used to determine these 35 patients was stratified sampling. According to, (Yin, 2003), with stratified sampling, the population is categorized in different layers known as strata. Each level consists of individuals with homogeneous characteristics. Once the layers are created, either simple random sampling or systematic random sampling is used to make a sample from each stratum (Yin, 2003).
Imagine yourself sitting on the examination table at your doctor’s office, you have been experiencing nausea, fatigue, appetite loss, muscle cramps and other symptoms for the past couple months or so. Today is the day you will finally get your bloodwork results back, the overwhelming fear of the unknown will finally be put to rest. Your mind is racing with the never ending possibilities of life threatening illnesses but you try and remain calm, convincing yourself that everything will be ok. The doctor knocks on the door, enters the room, pulls up her chair…this is the moment of truth. She calmly yet sternly informs you that your kidneys are failing and explains to you that because of this kidney failure the waste products and extra
The kidney is a body organ that filters blood for the secretion of urine and that regulates ion concentrations. When the kidneys can no longer function properly, it causes a kidney disease which can shut down and waste can be released into the blood flow. When kidneys can no longer function to sustain day to day life, it is diagnosed as chronic kidney disease (CKD) or end stage renal disease (ESRD).
Another safety concern in the dialysis unit is the high rate of patient falls. Patient age is a risk factor because most of the dialysis patients are over 65 years or older and are weak and prone to falls. About 82% falls happen at home due to furniture tripping; 40% due to “feeling dizzy or weak” (Marck et al., 2014). Because blood exchange is done during hemodialysis that can cause hypotension and/or weakness, as nurses, safety measures must be followed by ensuring functional while removing unnecessary equipment and keeping the unit free from clutters and by giving high attention to patients to keep them safe. Another prevalent issue in the dialysis unit is the high risk of sepsis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “established
Chronic Kidney Disease affects more than 10% of adults in the United States, and more than 20 million individuals may have this illness (National Chronic Kidney Disease Fact Sheet, 2014). Moreover, there are 26 million Americans beyond 20 years old with this ailment, which incorporates more than 940,000 adults in Michigan (Kidney Disease, 2105). Notwithstanding this, a combined populace of more than 600 million individuals in developing countries that can’t manage the cost of renal replacement, subsequently causing over 1 million deaths for untreated kidney failure (Chronic Kidney Disease, 2015). Indeed, there are more than 80% of people receiving renal replacement therapy. Additionally, as assessed around 1 in 5 men and 1 in 4 women between the age of 65 and 74 and half of people over the age of 75 years old have Chronic Kidney Disease (Chronic Kidney Disease, 2015).
The annual per patient cost of providing dialysis therapy in the SHD program ranged from$80,372 to $215,918. The median annual per patient cost of dialysis therapy was calculated to be $99,888 with an interquartile range (IQR) of $89,057–$122,640. There was considerable het-erogeneity in the cost estimates across units with two of the sixteen units having per patient, per year costs totaling over $200,000 per patient, per year and half of the sixteen units having total per patient, per year costs totaling under $100,000 per patient, per year (Hirth, 2008).
For haemodialysis patients, dysfunctional vascular access may cause the delay of life-saving dialysis treatment, unnecessary cardiovascular diseases, and then lead to long time hospitalisation and financial difficulties (Bueno, 2017). Therefore, haemodialysis nurses should assist patients on haemodialysis to reduce their vascular access related complications and to improve the effectiveness of dialysis and their quality of life. The first strategy is delivery nursing care in a consistent manner using evidence-based practice. Such as cleaning the catheter exit site and applying CVC dressing as per organisation’s protocol, adhering to care plans and guidelines to assess and identify early signs of dysfunctional vascular access, and using point of care (POC) ultrasound for cannulation to avoid miscannulation or infiltration of the vessels. As an example, utilising POC ultrasound in haemodialysis has been suggested by International evidence-based recommendations as an efficacy and safety method for any type of vascular cannulation (Schoch, du Toit, Marticorena & Sinclair, 2015).