Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease Units in Spain: a national survey on standards of structure, resources, results and patient safety. / Unidades de Enfermedad Renal Crónica Avanzada en España: una encuesta nacional sobre los estándares de estructura, recursos, resultados y seguridad del paciente.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Recently, the Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease Units (UERCA, in Spanish) have been developed in Spain to offer a better quality of life to patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (ACKD), improving their survival and reducing morbidity in this phase of the disease. Nowadays, there is not much evidence in the Spanish and international literature regarding the structure and how to achieve these objectives in the UERCA. From the ERCA working group of the Spanish Society of Nephrology (SEN), this project is promoted to improve care for ERCA patients through the definition of quality standards for the operation of the UERCA. MATERIAL AND METHODS: An initial proposal for quality standards concerning the operation of the UERCA was configured through consultation with the main sources of references and the advice of an expert working group through face-to-face and telematic meetings. Base on this initial proposal of standards, a survey was conducted and sent it via email to 121 nephrology specialist and nursing professionals with experience in Spanish UERCA to find out, among others, the suitability of each standards, that is, its mandatory nature or recommendation as standards. The access to the survey was allowed between July 16th, 2018, until September 26th, 2018. RESULTS: A total of 95 (78.5%) professionals participated out of the 121 who were invited to participate. Of these, 80 of the participants were nephrology specialists and 15 nursing professionals, obtaining a varied representation of professionals from the Spanish geography. After analyzing the opinions of these participants, the standards were defined to a total of 68, 37 of them (54.4%) mandatory and 31 of them (45.5%) recommended. Besides, it was observed that the volume of patients attended in the UERCA is usually above 100 patients, and the referral criteria is generally below 25-29 mL/min/1.73 m2 of glomerular filtration. CONCLUSIONS: This work constitutes a first proposal of quality standards for the operation of UERCA in Spain. The definition of these standards has made it possible to establish the bases for the standardization of the organization of UERCA, and to subsequently work on the configuration of a standards manual for the accreditation of ERCA Units.

Experiencia en hemodiálisis domiciliaria en España / Spanish home hemodialysis experience

Resumen Antecedentes: existe actualmente un interés creciente, a nivel mundial, por las posibilidades que ofrece la hemodiálisis domiciliaria, la cual se encuentra más extendida en países del norte de Europa, Canadá, Reino Unido, Estados Unidos, Australia y Nueva Zelanda. En España, ha crecido de manera muy lenta, excepto en determinadas regiones como la provincia de Castellón, donde hemos puesto especial interés en la expansión de las técnicas dialíticas domiciliarias. Objetivo: describir la experiencia en el programa de hemodiálisis domiciliaria del Hospital General de Castellón. Metodología: estudio descriptivo de los pacientes incluidos en el programa de hemodiálisis domiciliaria del Hospital General de Castellón, desde su inicio en enero del 2008 hasta diciembre del 2017. Resultados: en su conjunto, entrenamos a 41 pacientes, de los que 36 llegaron a hemodializarse en casa (régimen corto-diario). La edad de los pacientes era 58,3±13,4 años; y el índice de Charlson, 4,1±1,6. 62 % de los pacientes eran hombres, 25,6 % padecían diabetes mellitus; 15,4 % tenían diagnóstico de insuficiencia cardíaca y 32 % eran portadores de fístula de hemodiálisis. El 38,5 % de los pacientes en edad laboral estaba activo. Obtuvimos una supervivencia técnica considerando el evento muerte+fallo técnico, censurando el trasplante, del 79,4 % al año, 75,2 % a los 2 años y 42,1 % a los 5 años. En el análisis univariante, resultaron determinantes la edad, la presencia de diabetes mellitus y la presencia de insuficiencia cardíaca. En el análisis multivariante, solo se mantuvo la insuficiencia cardíaca. Las reducciones semanales de fósforo y beta-2-microglobulina fueron significativamente mayores con hemodiálisis corta diaria, en comparación con la hemodiafiltración on-line. La hemodiafiltración on-line fue superior en la reducción semanal a partir de los 17 800 daltons para la mioglobina. Conclusiones: la hemodiálisis domiciliaria es una técnica posible que ofrece al paciente una adecuada reinserción sociolaboral, buenos niveles de reducción semanal de toxinas urémicas y una aceptable supervivencia técnica en el tiempo.

Abstract Background: There is currently a growing interest, worldwide, for the possibilities offered by home hemodialysis, which is more widespread in northern European countries, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. In Spain, it has grown very slowly, except in certain regions such as the province of Castellón, where we have placed special interest in the expansion of home dialysis techniques. Objective: To describe the experience in the Home Hemodialysis program of the Hospital General de Castellón. Methodology: Descriptive study of the patients included in the home hemodialysis program of the Hospital General de Castellón, from its beginning in January 2008 to December 2017. Results: As a whole, we trained 41 patients, of whom 36 came to hemodialysis at home (short-day regimen). Age 58,3±13,4 years, Charlson index 4,1±1,6, 62 % men, 25,6 % with diabetes mellitus, 15,4 % with diagnosis of heart failure, 32 % with hemodialysis fistula, 38,5 % of working-age patients were active. We obtained a technical survival considering the event death+technical failure, censoring transplant of 79,4 % a year, 75,2 % at 2 years and 42,1 % at 5 years, resulting determinants of the event in the univariate analysis: age, presence of diabetes mellitus and presence of heart failure, and only heart failure in the multivariate. The weekly reductions of phosphorus and beta-2-microglobulin were significantly greater with daily short hemodialysis with respect to on-line haemodiafiltration. Being the on-line hemodiafiltration superior in the weekly reduction from the 17800 daltons of myoglobin. Conclusions: Home hemodialysis is a possible technique that offers the patient an adequate social-labor reintegration with good levels of weekly reduction of uraemic toxins and an acceptable technical survival over time.