A study of the adequacy of counselling regarding chronic kidney disease imparted to dialysis patients

Abstract

Background
Patients with ESRD undergo a complex treatment regimen including lifestyle modifications which affects the social and psychological functioning. Little is known about disease-specific knowledge of patients with CKD. This study used a questionnaire based study to characterise the patients’ knowledge about kidney disease.
Methodology
A cross-sectional observational study was done on 100 ESRD patients attending Saveetha Medical College and Hospital during the period January-March 2019, undergoing hemodialysis treatment, using a structured kidney disease questionnaire: A test for measuring patient knowledge about ESRD.
Results
This study shows that only 3% of the patients were adequately counselled and there is significant association between age and level of knowledge among the patients (p value-0.000). It was also shown that the patient had better knowledge regarding general CKD followed by hemodialysis and least knowledge regarding peritoneal dialysis and transplantation.
Conclusion
The study showed that patients in our unit were not adequately counselled regarding the disease condition, progress and management. Various studies have shown that patients with CKD must have knowledge about their condition and the various treatment options available, before initiation of the treatment.