Selected Podcast
ECMC End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Patient Education Sessions
Patricia E. Denny, Director of Dialysis Operations at Erie County Medical Center, discusses the hospital's dialysis options for patients facing end stage renal disease.
Featuring:
Patricia E. Denny, RD, MS
Patricia E. Denny, Director of Dialysis Operations at Erie County Medical Center. Transcription:
Bill Klaproth (Host): One in every eight adults in western New York has been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, and an equal number in the community may be undiagnosed. While end-stage renal disease, or ESRD, is a serious condition, it is not uncommon and can be well-managed through proper patient education. Here to talk with us about the ECMC end-stage renal disease patient education sessions is Patricia Denny, a director of dialysis operations at ECMC. Patricia, thank you so much for your time. So, can you first explain to us what end-stage renal disease is?
Patricia E. Denny, RD, MS (Guest): Good morning. Thank you for having me. End-stage renal disease is a condition in which the patient generally suffers a slow and steady loss of their kidney’s ability to do their normal functions. So, the losses would be the inability to regulate blood pressure, inability to keep the body in good balance. The healthy kidneys are like the chemists of the body where they regulate fluids, all of the electrolyte, the acid-based balance. The kidneys eventually lose their ability. Over time, kidney function diminishes slowly to the point where eventually the patient begins to feel the symptoms of not feeling well, blood pressure difficulties, maybe some fluid swelling in the body. Those types of symptoms.
The difficulty lies in that gradual loss of renal function is basically silent, and it happens slowly so that unfortunately many times patients don't realize that they have kidney disease until it’s discovered in its fairly late stage. The cure for that is to go to your doctor on a regular basis, have your doctor medically monitor you. Then if things progress, your doctor can send you to a kidney specialist, which is a nephrologist.
Host: Right. That’s very interesting. So, the kidneys basically clean the body of wastes. When the kidneys are not functioning properly, that waste builds up and then all kinds of bad things basically can happen, as you were mentioning. Is that basically correct?
Dr. Denny: That is correct. The kidneys help filter the blood and put the unwanted particles out of the body via the urine. Over time as the kidney tissue gradually diminishes and its ability to work, the little tiny cells, the nephrons, as they die, the ability to clean the blood diminishes a little bit more and the symptoms gradually become noticeable to the patient. It’s very important that each person see their doctor on a regular basis, minimal of at least once a year. Each person should go in for a check up to their primary doctor—your family medicine doctor, your internal medicine doctor—and be monitored. That allows the primary care physician the ability to work with the patient, minimize the symptoms, and eventually refer the patient to the nephrologist, that kidney specialist which is so important.
Host: So, let’s turn to the patient education services. As I manage, this can be managed. So, can you tell us about the ESRD patient education sessions? What does one there and what does somebody learn?
Dr. Denny: What we have just launched at ECMC in our continued commitment to the Buffalo and western New York Community for all areas of healthcare, not just renal care and kidney care, we have launched a program. The first session is Wednesday January 9th. The sessions will be held two days each month free of charge, open to the public here at the ECMC campus. The classes will last approximately one hour in length with their group sessions with time afterwards as needed if any person has individual questions for themselves of for their loved one.
We will go through the basic symptoms of renal failure, what healthy kidneys do, what happens when kidney function begins to diminish, then via the dialysis treatment options how we will manage these symptoms for each person on an individual basis. We also cover the renal kidney diet, which is a specific diet that patients need to follow. As well as help them with other concerns such as transportation, the overall adjustment to the dialysis process, health insurance, helping to ease fears of how we’re going to pay for the dialysis treatment. It’s an all-inclusive interdisciplinary class that we offer to the public free of charge.
Host: I could see where this would be very beneficial. So, you mentioned dialysis. Patricia can you tell us about outpatient and inpatient dialysis? What should we know about that?
Dr. Denny: Well, here at ECMC we do offer both services. We have the outpatient dialysis center here on the campus. It is the largest center in the eight counties of western New York. We are open six days a week. First treatments beginning at 6:00 a.m. in the morning and they run as late as up to 9:00 p.m. So, we’re open several hours each day. We offer hemodialysis, where we clean the blood via the dialysis machine. We also offer in the outpatient setting home peritoneal dialysis where the patient is taught to clean their body fluids via a catheter that is inserted into the abdomen. This is done at home. We offer that therapy. That is peritoneal dialysis. We also offer home hemodialysis where the patient can be taught to dialyze hemodialysis in their own home. So, it’s the three modalities that exist. In-center hemodialysis, home dialysis peritoneal, and home hemodialysis. We do offer all three.
In the inpatient setting, we do have an inpatient unit which covers all patients who are admitted into ECMC who might need dialysis during their hospital stay. So, we dialyze our own patients here at ECMC as well as any patient who comes in for any type of medical or surgical need.
Host: So, the patient education sessions covers all of this. Is that correct?
Dr. Denny: Yes, that is correct. We also cover another option for treating kidney failure is kidney transplantation. We have here on our campus the transplantation center of excellence. It’s located on our 10th floor at the campus. Many, many kidney transplants are done here on an ongoing basis. Our transplant center now offers the shortest wait time in the nation for getting listed and receiving a kidney. So that’s another aspect of kidney care which we can help the dialysis patient and their family, their loved one. We can help them go through the process of meeting the transplantation folks and determining if transplantation is an appropriate option for them. All right here on this campus and we work together to make it as seamless as possible.
Host: And speaking of being seamless and working with the patients so they really understand and are well informed, can you talk about the nursing care model? What is that and who is on the team?
Dr. Denny: This is something at ECMC that we are proud of. In our outpatient dialysis area, you are cared for either by a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse. It is a 100% nursing model so that each nurse or caregiver approaching you have a license. In our inpatient area if a patient needs to be dialyzed during their hospitalization, they are dialyzed solely by a registered nurse. So, it is strictly a nursing model here at ECMC. We do not employ the patient care technician caregiver within our scope of services. We are 100% nursing so that each person caring for you is very well trained, not only in nursing but in nursing and dialysis.
Host: Which is very comforting as well. If someone is interested in the patient education sessions Patricia, what should they do?
Dr. Denny: Well, they're free to come. They can simply call our department and talk with one of us on an individual basis. At that time, should they decide to come to a class, we will take the reservation for them. Reservations are preferred, but they're not mandated. Our phone number is within 716, the renal center is 898-1400.
Host: Patricia, thank you so much for the great information today. We certainly appreciate it. For more information, you can also visit the ECMC website. Go to ecmc.edu. That’s ecmc.edu. Or as Patricia says, you can call 716-898-1400. This is the True Care Health Care from Eerie County Medical Center. I’m Bill Klaproth. Thanks for listening.
Bill Klaproth (Host): One in every eight adults in western New York has been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, and an equal number in the community may be undiagnosed. While end-stage renal disease, or ESRD, is a serious condition, it is not uncommon and can be well-managed through proper patient education. Here to talk with us about the ECMC end-stage renal disease patient education sessions is Patricia Denny, a director of dialysis operations at ECMC. Patricia, thank you so much for your time. So, can you first explain to us what end-stage renal disease is?
Patricia E. Denny, RD, MS (Guest): Good morning. Thank you for having me. End-stage renal disease is a condition in which the patient generally suffers a slow and steady loss of their kidney’s ability to do their normal functions. So, the losses would be the inability to regulate blood pressure, inability to keep the body in good balance. The healthy kidneys are like the chemists of the body where they regulate fluids, all of the electrolyte, the acid-based balance. The kidneys eventually lose their ability. Over time, kidney function diminishes slowly to the point where eventually the patient begins to feel the symptoms of not feeling well, blood pressure difficulties, maybe some fluid swelling in the body. Those types of symptoms.
The difficulty lies in that gradual loss of renal function is basically silent, and it happens slowly so that unfortunately many times patients don't realize that they have kidney disease until it’s discovered in its fairly late stage. The cure for that is to go to your doctor on a regular basis, have your doctor medically monitor you. Then if things progress, your doctor can send you to a kidney specialist, which is a nephrologist.
Host: Right. That’s very interesting. So, the kidneys basically clean the body of wastes. When the kidneys are not functioning properly, that waste builds up and then all kinds of bad things basically can happen, as you were mentioning. Is that basically correct?
Dr. Denny: That is correct. The kidneys help filter the blood and put the unwanted particles out of the body via the urine. Over time as the kidney tissue gradually diminishes and its ability to work, the little tiny cells, the nephrons, as they die, the ability to clean the blood diminishes a little bit more and the symptoms gradually become noticeable to the patient. It’s very important that each person see their doctor on a regular basis, minimal of at least once a year. Each person should go in for a check up to their primary doctor—your family medicine doctor, your internal medicine doctor—and be monitored. That allows the primary care physician the ability to work with the patient, minimize the symptoms, and eventually refer the patient to the nephrologist, that kidney specialist which is so important.
Host: So, let’s turn to the patient education services. As I manage, this can be managed. So, can you tell us about the ESRD patient education sessions? What does one there and what does somebody learn?
Dr. Denny: What we have just launched at ECMC in our continued commitment to the Buffalo and western New York Community for all areas of healthcare, not just renal care and kidney care, we have launched a program. The first session is Wednesday January 9th. The sessions will be held two days each month free of charge, open to the public here at the ECMC campus. The classes will last approximately one hour in length with their group sessions with time afterwards as needed if any person has individual questions for themselves of for their loved one.
We will go through the basic symptoms of renal failure, what healthy kidneys do, what happens when kidney function begins to diminish, then via the dialysis treatment options how we will manage these symptoms for each person on an individual basis. We also cover the renal kidney diet, which is a specific diet that patients need to follow. As well as help them with other concerns such as transportation, the overall adjustment to the dialysis process, health insurance, helping to ease fears of how we’re going to pay for the dialysis treatment. It’s an all-inclusive interdisciplinary class that we offer to the public free of charge.
Host: I could see where this would be very beneficial. So, you mentioned dialysis. Patricia can you tell us about outpatient and inpatient dialysis? What should we know about that?
Dr. Denny: Well, here at ECMC we do offer both services. We have the outpatient dialysis center here on the campus. It is the largest center in the eight counties of western New York. We are open six days a week. First treatments beginning at 6:00 a.m. in the morning and they run as late as up to 9:00 p.m. So, we’re open several hours each day. We offer hemodialysis, where we clean the blood via the dialysis machine. We also offer in the outpatient setting home peritoneal dialysis where the patient is taught to clean their body fluids via a catheter that is inserted into the abdomen. This is done at home. We offer that therapy. That is peritoneal dialysis. We also offer home hemodialysis where the patient can be taught to dialyze hemodialysis in their own home. So, it’s the three modalities that exist. In-center hemodialysis, home dialysis peritoneal, and home hemodialysis. We do offer all three.
In the inpatient setting, we do have an inpatient unit which covers all patients who are admitted into ECMC who might need dialysis during their hospital stay. So, we dialyze our own patients here at ECMC as well as any patient who comes in for any type of medical or surgical need.
Host: So, the patient education sessions covers all of this. Is that correct?
Dr. Denny: Yes, that is correct. We also cover another option for treating kidney failure is kidney transplantation. We have here on our campus the transplantation center of excellence. It’s located on our 10th floor at the campus. Many, many kidney transplants are done here on an ongoing basis. Our transplant center now offers the shortest wait time in the nation for getting listed and receiving a kidney. So that’s another aspect of kidney care which we can help the dialysis patient and their family, their loved one. We can help them go through the process of meeting the transplantation folks and determining if transplantation is an appropriate option for them. All right here on this campus and we work together to make it as seamless as possible.
Host: And speaking of being seamless and working with the patients so they really understand and are well informed, can you talk about the nursing care model? What is that and who is on the team?
Dr. Denny: This is something at ECMC that we are proud of. In our outpatient dialysis area, you are cared for either by a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse. It is a 100% nursing model so that each nurse or caregiver approaching you have a license. In our inpatient area if a patient needs to be dialyzed during their hospitalization, they are dialyzed solely by a registered nurse. So, it is strictly a nursing model here at ECMC. We do not employ the patient care technician caregiver within our scope of services. We are 100% nursing so that each person caring for you is very well trained, not only in nursing but in nursing and dialysis.
Host: Which is very comforting as well. If someone is interested in the patient education sessions Patricia, what should they do?
Dr. Denny: Well, they're free to come. They can simply call our department and talk with one of us on an individual basis. At that time, should they decide to come to a class, we will take the reservation for them. Reservations are preferred, but they're not mandated. Our phone number is within 716, the renal center is 898-1400.
Host: Patricia, thank you so much for the great information today. We certainly appreciate it. For more information, you can also visit the ECMC website. Go to ecmc.edu. That’s ecmc.edu. Or as Patricia says, you can call 716-898-1400. This is the True Care Health Care from Eerie County Medical Center. I’m Bill Klaproth. Thanks for listening.