VIDEO: Speaker offers tips on dialysis care during natural disasters
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Key takeaways:
- Extreme events, such as wildfires, can cause health facility closures and other barriers to care.
- Practices should consider patient education about evacuation procedures and gathering of supplies.
BALTIMORE — With a global increase in natural disasters, it has become more urgent for nephrology practices to prepare facilities and patients for potential disruptions in care, according to a presenter here.
Graham Abra, MD, a clinical associate professor in the nephrology division at Stanford University School of Medicine and associate editor for Healio | Nephrology News & Issues, presented research on climate change and its impact on nephrology care at the Renal Physicians Association Annual Meeting.
“Natural disasters are increasing in frequency here in the United States. In 2023, we had a record-setting year with [more than] two per month billion-dollar natural disasters that were occurring,” Abra told Healio. “So, these things are real, and they are part of our clinical lives.”
Extreme events, such as wildfires, earthquakes and floods, could cause transportation barriers, pharmacy delays or closures, electricity loss, water contamination and personal shortages, according to Abra. To organize, practices should consider patient education about evacuation procedures and gathering supplies needed to maintain dialysis and good health.
“We, as a nephrology community, have learned how to better manage our patients on dialysis when one of these events happens through events like Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Harvey [and] the devastating wildfires in northern California and the Santa Rosa area,” Abra said. “There are some excellent resources available ... and preparing our patients, our teams, our families, [and] ourselves is going to be something we should do regularly.”
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Abra G. Delivering kidney care in climate disasters. Presented at: Renal Physicians Association Annual Meeting; April 11-14, 2024; Baltimore.
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