Abstract

SANCHEZ VILLAR, Isidro  and  LORENZO SELLARES, Víctor. Haemodialysis: How much do we know about the drugs related to mineral metabolism?. Rev Soc Esp Enferm Nefrol [online]. 2011, vol.14, n.1, pp.23-29. ISSN 1139-1375.

The complications deriving from the alteration of the bone mineral metabolism have a considerable impact on patients with terminal chronic renal disease. The therapeutic weapons used to prevent and overcome these complications have evolved. These drugs -among others- are supervised or administered by nursing staff. Nurses have an important health education task and their knowledge can help to clear up patients' doubt and improve their adherence to treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the degree of knowledge that nephrology nursing professionals have of the drugs used in the correction of mineral metabolism alterations administered or supervised by them in the dialysis session. An observational descriptive study was carried out using a survey comprising six questions related to socio-demographic variables and eight multiple choice questions, drawn up in the 35th National Congress of SEDEN. A total of 72 professionals were interviewed. Of these, 36% worked in Peripheral Units. Only 43% worked in centres where oral medication related to phosphorous was administered: 57% in the case of hospitals compared to 9% in the peripheral centres (p=0.002). The mean score, out of a maximum of 8 points, was 3.32. Only 17% answered 2/3 of the questions correctly. There was no relationship between the score obtained and the age of the interviewees, although interviewees aged over 44 (p=0.062) had lower scores. The score obtained by professionals in hospitals (3.41± 2.03) was slightly higher than the score obtained by professionals from peripheral centres (3.15 ± 2.22) although not statistically significant (p=0.62). Nor did we find an association between the time in the nursing profession, the time spent in dialysis units and the score obtained. As a conclusion we can state that there are few dialysis centres that administer chelants during sessions, and substantial improvement is needed in relation to information on these medications which are supervised and administered by nursing staff and on which patients request help in the form of information.

Keywords : Nursing; Dialysis; Treatment adherence; Drug knowledge; Mineral Metabolism.

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