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Annual Dialysis Conference offers insights into new dialysis therapies
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Presenting diverse points of view on approaches to dialysis care for all disciplines has been the hallmark of the Annual Dialysis Conference. Courses in pediatrics, in-center and home dialysis care, new technology and clinic management make up the programming for this annual meeting.
“Dialysis is about teamwork,” said Ramesh Khanna, MD, director of the Karl D. Nolph, MD, Division of Nephrology and the Karl D Nolph, MD, Chair in Nephrology at the University of Missouri-Columbia, in an interview with Nephrology News & Issues. Khanna is also chair of the Annual Dialysis Conference and co-chair of the conference’s peritoneal dialysis program. “Success and patient outcomes depend upon everyone doing their part effectively and successfully,” Khanna said.
Keynote presentations
The keynote address for the main symposium will be given by Kevin Erickson, MD. The title of his talk, “Big data! Past limitations and the future,” will be followed by “Practice of modern medicine: Population based or personalized?” presented by Bernard Canaud, MD, PhD. “Growth of electronic communication and digitalization has given us an opportunity to amass ‘big data’ on dialysis patients,” said Khanna. “Since the 1970s, ESRD care has been under a single-payer system, namely Medicare. Consequently, the public policies for the management of ESRD patients are greatly influenced by the Medicare, which has in its possession the ‘big data.’ In the beginning, more so during the 1980s, it focused on the cost, access to the dialysis care and the quality of care. When the big data became easily accessible to researchers, their influence on policies took on a greater role.”
In the second keynote presentation, Canaud will address several questions on the shift in health care policy toward value-based care that is pushing population health. “It is of utmost importance for caregivers and care providers to understand the intersection of population based and personalized medicine,” Khanna said. “Dr. Canaud will illustrate challenges and opportunities of this paradigm shift in the practice of modern nephrology with a focus on dialysis treatment. How to best define population health and personalized medicine? How can we maintain the personalized nature of health care? How does that fit with the concept of population health management? What challenges health care policy makers and/or health care organizations will face to balance private initiative vs. industrialization of the health care system?”
Other keynotes addresses for the program will include a talk from Robert Pauly, MD, MSc, on the value of nocturnal hemodialysis during the “Challenges in home hemodialysis program management” pre-course; the Barbara Prowant Lectureship presented by Shirley Farrah, PhD, RN-BC, and Beth Ulrich, EdD, RN, FACHE, FAAN, on patient safety, nurse safety and developing a patient safety culture; and the talk, “Patient and caregiver priorities for outcomes in PD,” presented by Edwina Brown, MD, during the “Peritoneal dialysis management: Challenges and opportunities” pre-course.
The North American chapter of the International Society of Peritoneal Dialysis will have a 1-day program on March 18 looking at patient-centered care; urgent start and incremental PD; a debate over whether PD or home hemodialysis is the best therapy; and how to integrate home PD and home hemodialysis. “Transitioning patients from one home modality to another is a complex, poorly understood and challenging issue,” Khanna said. “Management of chronic, complex patients during the transition requires specialized and expert planned management. We need to learn how to identify early evidences of failure from one form of home therapy, and expertly and smoothly transition to another home therapy before the patient becomes critically ill.”
The ADC also includes a 1-day course for dialysis care technicians on March 17. Highlights of that program include presentations on dealing with difficult patient interactions, the fundamentals of preserving the vascular access and working with patients on their nutritional needs.
Pediatric symposium
The Annual Symposium on Pediatric Dialysis in 2019 will include special sessions on caring for patients involved in sporting events and those traveling to camps. Other topics cover vascular access care, infection and nutrition for young patients. – by Mark E. Neumann