Life on Dialysis: A Lived Experience

[okarol]

Life on Dialysis: A Lived Experience

The objective of this study was to explore the lived experience of patients with ESRD to
determine if they are adequately educated about their illness so as to avoid the possible
complications associated with the disease. Three pertinent conceptual categories emerged
that described the concern in the life of patients on dialysis: 1) life changes on dialysis
with sub-themes of restricted life, limitations, and hard on body; 2) coping; and 3) areas
lacking with sub-themes of health management, education, and preparing the next generation.
Identified deficits among this study group will help healthcare professionals fill
in the gaps in the delivery of healthcare service, which when addressed, would ultimately
ease the burden of this disease on patients and their families.

View the entire 7 page PDF file here: http://www.annanurse.org/download/reference/journal/JF2010/372935.pdf

[Bill Peckham]

I found this article pretty irritating. If you read this in conjunction with the comments about the bundle (http://www.billpeckham.com/from_the_sharp_end_of_the/2010/01/higher-dialysis-doses-for-better-health.html) from people using NxStage, you'd think they were talking about two different diseases but in both cases people are talking about managing their CKD with dialysis.  I need to read the whole paper but from the initial skim I think they're talking about the members of a support group in their community- so I'd say the paper says more about the dialysis in north Texas than it does about the procedure generally.

You can read a lot of the same thing on the discussion boards (see IHD), the thing missing in the paper is the perceived indifference of providers to do anything to improve the situation, something that is underlined when you read people's accounts on the discussion boards. The authors imagine that the docs could improve the situation or holistic nursing,  but they're seeing the shadows instead of the real problem - the dialysis. These dialyzors (aside maybe those on PD) are not getting enough dialysis and have been infantilized by the incenter system.