Abstract: PO0836
Improving Education and Satisfaction of Hemodialysis Patients Through Anonymous Feedback
Session Information
- Dialysis Care: Epidemiology and the Patient Experience
November 04, 2021 | Location: On-Demand, Virtual Only
Abstract Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Category: Dialysis
- 701 Dialysis: Hemodialysis and Frequent Dialysis
Authors
- Rajasekaran, Arun, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States
- Prakash, Anand, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States
- Hatch, Spencer, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States
- Lu, Yan, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States
- Zarjou, Abolfazl, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Background
Patients on outpatient hemodialysis (OHD) are a particularly vulnerable population who may not feel comfortable sharing their experience given the complex and frequent nature of their care. This could lead to conceivable gaps in knowledge pertaining to improving their satisfaction and education. To account for this potential limiting factor and to build on previous surveys performed on OHD patients we conducted a study in nine of our university affiliated OHD units.
Methods
The study had 3 major objectives: 1) apprehend the level of satisfaction of patients with varying aspects of OHD related care, 2) evaluate level of understanding and education of patients regarding issues that pertain to their health and wellbeing, 3) identify potential avenues for improvement based on patients' input. The survey was in English, paper based, with individual answer choices graded using a 1-5 rating scale [1:very poor, 2:poor, 3:neutral, 4:good, 5:excellent]. To ensure anonymity, the completed surveys were folded and dropped into a box.
Results
Among 516 screened patients 228 did not participate. Additional 35 patients were excluded for ≥ 1 reasons: legally blind, unable to read/write/speak English, advanced dementia, too frail. 253 eligible patients completed the survey. While the overall results were reassuring with 18 out of 24 questions yielding an average of ≥ 4.2 per question, we found specific areas for improving care and education. These included providing additional resources and information regarding palliative care, mental health, cardiovascular diseases, transplant process, addressing discomfort during OHD, improving privacy, and improving the time that the nephrologist spends with patients.
Conclusion
The US centers for Medicare and Medicaid services ESRD prospective payment system and quality incentive program requires that dialysis centers meet predefined criteria for quality of patient care to ensure future funding. We took advantage of an anonymous survey to further reflect on the potential needs of this patient population to enhance their quality of life and education. Despite specific limitations, our survey demonstrated patients undergoing OHD were overall satisfied and had a good understanding about their overall health. However, we identified several aspects to improve upon as requested by our respondents.