home hemodialysis FREEDOM WITHIN YOUR OWN HOME

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Being at home

Together with your renal care center, B. Braun offers you the option of carrying out hemodialysis independently in your own home. Your attending renal care center will continue to be your advisor and dedicated contact person for all health matters.

What is Home Hemodialysis?

With home hemodialysis, patients carry out dialysis treatments at home instead of needing to travel to a renal care center. They get responsibility of performing their treatments based on prescribed treatment regime on their own or with a dialysis care partner. The attending physician remains responsible for prescription and medication, and will see patients at regular intervals in the center. A fully equipped dialysis station is set up at home in a most suitable room and maintained regularly. The supplies needed for treatments are delivered at defined schedules into patients homes.

Requirements for Home Hemodialysis

Who is suitable for home hemodialysis?

Thanks to technical advances, home dialysis is suitable for a growing numbers of patients. Many patients meet the prerequisites for home dialysis: patients need to be in a stable state of health, with a well-functioning vascular access, and must have the dexterity and technical skills to carry out the procedure safely. In addition to meeting the medical criteria, there needs to be adequate space for a fully equipped treatment station and storage space for the necessary disposables.

How your home dialysis place is created

Training before first treatment

Before home hemodialysis starts, individual training courses prepare the patient and the care partner for the treatment: This includes how to operate the dialysis machine, document the procedure, and also cannulate the vascular access. The training intensity and duration can be individually adapted to the personal needs of each patient until they feel "ready-to-go-home".

Benefits of Home Hemodialysis

Benefits

Low space requirement

Effect on diet and fluid restrictions

Personal advantages

Self-determined dialysis times, even at nights or on weekends
Increased possibility of flexible treatment options in coordination with the attending renal care center, for better treatment outcomes and better well-being
No time-consuming transportation or long waiting times
Better balancing of treatment schedules regarding private and professional plans and appointments
More independence and autonomy: personal responsibility instead of externally determined therapy
Treatment in familiar surroundings without alternating nursing staff

Medical benefits

Reduced need for medication¹
Hospitalization rates and length of hospital stays are shorter in HHD patients compared to in center HD patients²
Nutrition status of patients on HHD can be better than in patients with in-center dialysis³
Improved blood pressure control⁴
More than 20% better survival rates compared to in-center dialysis patients⁵

Cannulation at home

Most home hemodialysis patients gain great expertise in cannulating their own fistula in a short period of time and become much more familiar with their fistula than a dialysis nurse ever can be. Patients who carry out dialysis at home gradually become more relaxed and comfortable about the cannulation procedure.

What patients think about dialysis at home

home-hemodialysis-francie-woman-sunglasses-in-hair-holding-a-broom — "One of the reasons I very much prefer doing my dialysis at home is that it really gives me freedom and gives me time for the things I love." - Francie, South Africa

home-hemodialysis-vera-woman-with-her-black-dog — "The possibility of home hemodialysis is a great opportunity to organize your life according to your needs after a long time." - Vera, Czech Republic

home-hemodialysis-ralf-man-being-outside-in-garden — "I think it feels really good to take over responsibility and do dialysis at home." - Ralf, Germany

Contact

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Patient Story

Seda's experiences with home dialysis

Learn more about why Seda decided to do home hemodialysis.

^Sources

^{1 Parker K, Nikam M, Jayanti A, Mitra S. Medication burden in CKD-5D: Impact of dialysis modality and setting. Clin Kidney J. 2014 Dec; 7(6):557–61. doi: 10.1093/ckj/sfu091. Epub 2014 Sep 11. PMID: 25859372.}

^{2 Weinhandl ED, Gilbertson DT, Collins AJ. Mortality, hospitalization, and technique failure in daily home hemodialysis and matched peritoneal dialysis patients: A matched cohort study. Am J Kidney Dis 2016 Jan;67(1):98–110. doi: 10.1053/j.ajkd.2015.07.014.}

^{3 Aparicio M, Cano N, Chauveau P, Azar R, Canaud B, Flory A, Laville M, Leverve X. Nutritional status of haemodialysis patients: A French national cooperative study. French Study Group for Nutrition in Dialysis, Nephrol Dial Transplant. 1999 Jul;14(7):1679–86}

^{4 The FHN Trial Group, the Frequent Hemodialysis Network. In-clinic hemodialysis six times per week versus three times per week. N Engl J Med 2010; 363:2287–2300. Clin Kidney J 2014; 7:557–561; doi: 10.1093/ckj/sfu0912.}

^{5 Kjellstrand CM, Buoncristiani U, Ting G, Traeger J, Piccoli GB, Sibai-Galland R, Young BA, Blagg CR. Short daily haemodialysis: Survival in 415 patients treated for 1006 patient-years. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2008 Oct;23(10):3283–9. doi: 10.1093/ndt/gfn210.}

^{6 Karkar A, Hegbrant J, Strippoli G. Benefits and implementation of home hemodialysis: A narrative review. Saudi J Kidney Dis Transpl 2015;26(6):1095-1107}