Acute Care Dialysis Unit Opens at Maria Parham Medical Center
6/9/2011
On May 2, 2011, Maria Parham Medical Center opened the doors to its new Acute Care Dialysis Unit. The Dialysis Unit will allow patients in our region to stay closer to home when they need admission to a hospital for care. Previously, dialysis inpatients had to be transferred to hospitals, typically to Durham or Wake County. Even though the Dialysis Unit planned to gradually transition into a busy unit, the first week saw three different dialysis patients. Each of these patients would have had to transfer to a hospital in Durham or Raleigh, thereby delaying treatment while adding to healthcare costs and hardship for the patient and family.
Maria Parham’s Acute Care Dialysis Unit has the capability of going to patients in their room if they are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) or the Progressive Care Unit (PCU). Patients needing dialysis on the other nursing floors are taken to the Dialysis Unit located on the third floor. The unit is staffed by two specially trained registered nurses. The Dialysis team is made up of Nikki McKnight, RN, BSN - Unit Manager, Barbara Espinosa, RN and Tariq Abo-Kamil, MD. Dr. Abo-Kamil is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and specializes in diseases of the kidneys, as well as hypertension.
Any patient requiring inpatient dialysis is referred to Dr. Abo-Kamil, and he consults with the patient’s admitting physician to create a plan of care. Dr. Abo-Kamil is also available for follow-up with the patient as needed after the patient leaves the hospital, and he can see new patients in his office in the J.W. Jenkins Building as well.
Cindy Faulkner, Vice President of Patient Care at Maria Parham, states, “Maria Parham is very pleased to now offer inpatient dialysis for the people of our community who need it. Thanks to an arrangement with DaVita, our local outpatient dialysis provider, we have two highly qualified Registered Nurses who provide the highest quality care to our patients needing inpatient dialysis treatment.”
The Acute Care Dialysis Unit can provide dialysis care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The unit currently provides hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. In hemodialysis, the patient's blood is pumped through the blood compartment of a dialyzer through a semi-permeable membrane composed of thousands of tiny synthetic, hollow fibers. Blood flows through the fibers, dialysis solution flows around the outside of the fibers, and water and wastes move between these two solutions. The cleansed blood is then returned via the circuit back to the body.
In peritoneal dialysis, a sterile solution containing glucose is run through a tube into the peritoneal cavity (the abdominal body cavity around the intestine) where it acts as a semi-permeable membrane. The dialysate is left there for a period of time to absorb waste products, and then is drained out through the tube and discarded.
The team also provides other services for dialysis patients such as catheter access, and they will see patients in the Emergency Department as needed.
Bob Singletary, President and CEO, adds, “An important part of our mission in delivering the highest quality healthcare is to constantly assess what services are needed in our community. We feel that the addition of inpatient dialysis addresses a growing need for our region.”