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Quality nephrology nursing care : beyond Kt/V

journal contribution
posted on 2008-01-01, 00:00 authored by Paul Bennett, J Neill
Ask nephrology nurses about the care in their hemodialysis units and they will probably say that high quality care is provided. This perception may reflect a genuine pride in their own and their colleagues' hemodialysis services, however, the meaning of high quality dialysis care remains unclear. Quality is often framed in terms of the high percentage of patients receiving a Kt/V of greater than 1.2 or 1.4. The unfortunate inference here is that high quality hemodialysis care is defined as the waste clearing service of the urea molecule. Defining quality in this narrow way conflicts with the caring and compassionate nursing ethic. Furthermore, it places a high value on a single mathematically derived formula that ignores many other indicators of quality dialysis care. In this article, the authors examine some historical, political, and technical features of Kt/V and use the metaphor of a hangover to illustrate the overuse of Kt/V, arguing that nurses have embraced Kt/V at the expense of other core elements of dialysis nursing care.

History

Journal

Nephrology nursing journal

Volume

35

Issue

1

Season

January-February

Pagination

33 - 37

Publisher

American Nephrology Nurses' Association

Location

Pitman, N. J.

ISSN

1526-744X

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2008, American Nephrology Nurses' Association

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