NKF nurses win award for easing woes of dialysis patients

They used plastic tubes to overcome issue of needles shifting out of place overnight

- Zhaki Abdullah

In 2016, the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) introduced overnight dialysis at some of its centers as research showed that certain patients benefit from it.

The longer dialysis duration – about six to seven hours instead of four hours during the day – removes larger toxins. Since the process takes place while patients sleep, they can use their daytime hours for work and family commitments.

But NKF found that involuntary arm movements during sleep caused the metal needles used for dialysis to shift out of place, leading to patients experiencing pain and causing alarm.

The dialysis process then had to be paused while a nurse checked on the patient and adjusted the needle. In extreme cases, the needle could puncture the blood vessel it was inserted into, causing bleeding or swelling of the arm, which might require hospitalization.

As a result, 30 per cent of patients on overnight dialysis dropped out, NKF chief nurse Pauline Tan said.