Evidence of lack of agreement between hemodialysis patients and nurses on presence and severity of symptoms

Research
By Christine Cohen, Matteo Antonini, Philippe Delmas, Paul Di Biase
English

Hemodialysis patients constitute a vulnerable population whose quality of life is affected by the many symptoms (e.g., pain, fatigue) they experience. The presence and severity of these symptoms are significantly under-assessed by health professionals. The purpose of this study was to describe and compare the symptoms perceived by hemodialysis patients versus those detected by nurses. A total of 123 patients and 70 nurses working in six hemodialysis centers were included in the study. The results show that participating nurses detected less than 50% of the symptoms perceived by patients. Agreement between hemodialysis patients and nurses regarding symptom presence and severity was slight to fair at best (kappa < 0.47). This suggests that improving the knowledge and skills of hemodialysis nurses for detecting the symptoms of the patients in their care could go a long way toward intervening more efficiently and improving the quality of the care they offer.

Keywords

  • renal dialysis
  • patient
  • physical and psychological symptoms
  • nephrology nursing
  • symptom management
Go to the article on Cairn-int.info