Background: The Ochsner Clinic Foundation initiated the Healthy Start Clinic to identify, educate, and refer chronic kidney disease patients to nephrologists earlier in the course of their disease. This study investigated the impact of a structured educational session on the type and timing of permanent vascular access placement in patients receiving hemodialysis.
Methods: Before initiating dialysis, the HSC patient group received a general overview of the kidney and kidney disease, plus one-on-one instruction from a registered nurse, a dietitian, and a social worker. The HSC group was compared with a concurrent, conventionally prepared group of CKD patients who initiated dialysis during the same study period.
Results: Of the 147 patients initiating hemodialysis at OCF between April 1997 and December 2000, 61 had received structured HSC education, and 86 had received conventional care. In HSC-educated patients, the incidence of PVAs placed before hemodialysis initiation was twofold greater than in patients who received conventional care (77% HSC; 36% non-HSC, p < 0.001), and more HSC-educated patients initiated hemodialysis using their PVA (49% HSC; 23% non-HSC, p < 0.01). In addition, five times more patients who received HSC education received arteriovenous fistulas (52% HSC; 10% non-HSC, p < 0.001). Finally, significantly fewer HSC-educated patients initiated dialysis on a temporary catheter (51% HSC; 77% non-HSC, p < 0.001).
Conclusions: Education programs for CKD patients help increase the number of patients receiving early PVA placement, as well as the proportion of patients receiving AVFs as opposed to grafts or temporary catheters.