COVID-19 and Home Dialysis

With kidney failure, your risk from this virus is higher. The good news is, home treatments can help you stay safe. Avoid crowds. Ask to do routine clinic visits by phone or webcam. Order groceries online for delivery, and keep some low-potassium choices on hand. When you must go out, wear gloves, don’t touch your face, and wash your hands often for 20 seconds at a time. (Homemade hand sanitizer is not recommended). Here are some updates and resources:

• Baxter makes more gloves & masks, is “working tirelessly” on PD supplies

• NxStage pledges that System One supplies will arrive as usual

• The CDC has guidance to help you stay safe

• The National Kidney Foundation offers tips here

• Exposed? The American Society of Nephrology has advice

• AAKP is doing a COVID-19 webinar this Wednesday afternoon

• Want to be tested? Here’s how in your state

• Info gathered by Home Dialyzors United

KidneyViews Blog Topics:

Join us for our weekly home dialysis blog. Click here to subscribe to new post alerts. Tell us what YOU think—we welcome guest posts!

• Identifying & Managing Stress in Care Partners
  03/12 – Beth Witten, MSW, ACSW, LSCSW
• Using the MATCH-D More Effectively to Increase Utilization of Home Therapies
  03/05 – Matt Daley
• Advocacy for Better Home Dialysis: View from a 27-year Dialyzor
  02/27 – Michael Johnson
• Seven Keys to Better Dialysis
  02/20 – Dr. John Agar

Pipeline Technology

• A PD Catheter that Detects Peritonitis Early
• Wearable Fist Assist Device Enlarges Veins for Hemodialysis
• Shrinking a Qidni
• Removing B2m with Nanobodies

Home Dialysis in the News

• Large Providers are Growing Home Therapies

Living Well with Home Treatments

• Putting Out Fires
• Techs Improve Outcomes for Home Patients

Advocacy for Better Dialysis

• ADC Keynote Speaker Skeptical that Executive Order Goals Will be Met Via Policy

Industry Updates

• DaVita Care Connect Mobile App
• Fresenius Telehealth Hub

What's New in Home Dialysis Research

Each month, we gather recent research abstracts about home dialysis. Visit our Journal Watch to learn more:

• Glucose and Peritonitis
• Why Early Survival on PD Matters
• Double Purse String Suture for Urgent Start PD Catheters
• Glucose Degradation Product (GDP) Disrupts Peritoneal Membrane Function
• Physician Reimbursement Increases Did Not Drive PD in Canada
• Peritonitis with Diarrhea Could be C-diff
• Nocturnal HD in Children

Featured Link: CDC Dialysis Guidance for COVID-19

This site does not offer information for PD or home HD—but you may learn some useful tips from their in-center advice. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/healthcare-facilities/dialysis.html