Basics of Hemodialysis and Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Because there are now roughly 500,000 patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis (HD) in the United States, medical residents will certainly care for chronic HD patients no matter what field of medicine they enter. However, many residents report a lack of understanding of the dialysis procedure. The purpose of this resource is to help the learner understand the scientific underpinnings of dialysis, the differences between conventional HD and continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), and the limitations of renal replacement therapy. Methods This resource served as a supplement to a lecture, Hemodialysis Basics, for nephrology fellows, and as a supplement to a whiteboard and magic marker talk during an elective course, Fluids and Electrolytes, for third- and fourth-year medical students at our institution. The resource includes an electronic blackboard-style video for instruction and a quiz to assess medical knowledge related to concepts discussed in the video. Results All nephrology fellows found it to be helpful. One fellow remarked, “I thought the video was excellent. I give it a 10 [out of 10].” Similarly, from the evaluations of our third- and fourth-year medical student course, 100% of the respondents (11 of 26 students) ranked the video as high quality. Discussion We believe that this a succinct but excellent educational resource for not only renal fellows but all medical students and physicians who care for chronic HD patients or those with acute renal failure undergoing conventional HD or CRRT.

Keywords

• Hemodialysis
• Renal Dialysis
• Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy
• Dialysis
• Clearance
• Diffusion