1. Saturday multidisciplinary hemodialysis access clinics to enhance patient care.
- Author
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Levitsky LT, Ruske J, Hentschel DM, Nguyen LL, Ozaki CK, and Shah SK
- Subjects
- Humans, Nephrologists organization & administration, No-Show Patients, Patient Satisfaction, Quality Improvement organization & administration, Quality Indicators, Health Care organization & administration, Radiologists organization & administration, Surgeons organization & administration, Time Factors, After-Hours Care organization & administration, Ambulatory Care organization & administration, Delivery of Health Care, Integrated organization & administration, Outpatient Clinics, Hospital organization & administration, Patient Care Team organization & administration, Radiography, Interventional, Renal Dialysis, Vascular Surgical Procedures organization & administration
- Abstract
Fragmentation of outpatient care is a substantial barrier to creation and maintenance of hemodialysis access. To improve patient accessibility, satisfaction, and multidisciplinary provider communication, we created a monthly Saturday multidisciplinary vascular surgery and interventional nephrology access clinic at a tertiary care hospital in a major urban area for the complicated hemodialysis patient population. The study included patients presenting for new access creation as well as those who had previously undergone access surgery. Staffing included two to three interventional nephrologists, two to three vascular surgeons, one medical assistant, one research assistant, and one practice assistant. Patient satisfaction and perception of the clinic was measured using surveys during six of the monthly Saturday hemodialysis clinics. A total of 675 patient encounters were completed (18.2 average/clinic ±6.3 standard deviation) from August 2016 to August 2019. All patients were seen by both disciplines. The average no-show rate was 19.9% throughout the study period. Patient satisfaction in all measures was consistently high with the Saturday clinic. Providers were also assayed, and they generally valued the real-time, multidisciplinary care plan generation, and its subsequent efficient execution. Saturday multidisciplinary hemodialysis access clinics offer high provider and patient satisfaction and streamlined patient care. However, no-show rates remain relatively high for this challenging patient population.
- Published
- 2020
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