Modality options are often presented to patients in the hospital after they have had a central venous catheter placed and are in the acute dialysis setting or upon admission to a new in-center dialysis facility. Understandably, it is very difficult for patients to process all the information that they are receiving at this time, all while being very ill.
If modality education is addressed on admission and not addressed again until the 30 day care plan, it is likely that the patient has already forgotten most of what was presented to them. Modality education is often presented to a patient only three to four times during their first year on treatment. It is easy to understand why patients choose to stay on in-center hemodialysis therapy, which they are exposed to three times a week for four hours a day, rather than switch to a therapy they know very little about and to which they have had no exposure.
Modality education needs to be an ongoing conversation with patients. Patients need to know the benefits of all renal replacement therapies to make an educated choice about the right type of renal replacement therapy for them.
The following tools can be utilized to educate patients on modality options:
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- Home Modality Comparison https://homedialysis.org/documents/ModalityComparison.pdf
- Kidney Dialysis vs. Transplant http://www.nationalkidneycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Kidney-Dialysis-vs-Transplant-Comparison-Chart.pdf
- Which Dialysis is Right for You Survey https://mydialysischoice.org/