When it comes to communicating a message, nothing beats passion, and Professor Josephine Chow delivered her presentation on how empowering nurses is crucial to expanding home dialysis services with plenty of passion. Discussing a topic that is clearly dear to her heart, Prof Chow reminded her audience of the need to recognize the central role nurses play in home dialysis programs- her final take home message of “Empowering home dialysis nurses is likely to improve home-dialysis outcomes. Empower home dialysis nurse… and the whole home-dialysis team powers up” left audience members in no doubt as to what was important for growing your dialysis program.
After outlining the importance of home dialysis and the global trend to increasing use of home dialysis and the strategic need to scale home modalities, Prof. Chow highlighted the pivotal role nurses play- education, training, ongoing support to name a few of the key functions’ nurses undertake.
However, being a PD nurse has it’s challenges globally, from limited training and high workloads often with fragmented roles, to restricted pathways to leadership roles and evert increasing tech demands, often without support, the life of a PD nurse is tough. There are things that can be done to overcome some of these challenges: increased training, strong MDT culture and a safe, supportive work environments can strengthen nursing capabilities.
United States
