What are the different types of dialysis?

Dialysis is the process of removing waste and fluid from body and purifying the blood. This artificial process is used for the patients who are suffering from kidney failure. Their kidney does not work properly and is unable to eliminate wastes from body. Then physicians use a dialysis machine for removing wastes and fluids. With this treatment, the equipment of dialysis does the work of kidney.

Kidney is an important part of human body. Its main work is removing extra water, toxins, and waste from the human body. It also maintains the safe level of minerals and chemicals such as magnesium, calcium, sodium, potassium, phosphorus, etc. This organ also plays a part in the systems of constructing blood cells and bone formation. It can stop functioning mildly or permanently, from various reasons such as injury, chronic disease or renal failure, etc.

The machine, which is used for this process was constructed by a Dutch doctor Dr. Willem Kolff in early 1940s.

There are five types of dialysis:

Hemodialysis – In this process, blood of the patient, suffering from kidney diseases, goes through a machine called dialyzer. This equipment has special filters of synthetic fibers. When blood goes through the filter of machine, a solution also flows through fibers. The useless products are filtered with this procedure and clean blood is returned to the patient of kidney failure.

Peritoneal – In this procedure, the dialysate solution flows through a tube into patient’s abdominal body cavity. It is around the intestine and called peritoneal cavity. The solution is rich in glucose and minerals. Peritoneum is a layer of tissues, which contains blood vessels. In this process, osmosis and diffusion removes the waste products and excess water into dialysate through peritoneum. This procedure uses the natural ability of filtering of peritoneum. It continuous till dialysate gets to equilibrium.

Hemofiltration – In this process, blood flows through hemofilter with a pressure gradient. It removes the waste products of human body. It also replaces the extra water and salt removed from patient during treatment, with a replacement fluid.

Hemodiafiltration – It is a combination of hemodialysis and hemofiltration. In this, few things from both Dialyses are used.

Intestinal – In this treatment, fibers like acacia fiber are used to eliminate useless products from patient.

Hemodialysis, Peritoneal, Hemofiltration types of dialysis are the primary ones while Hemodiafiltration and Intestinal are the secondary types.

At hospitals, professionals perform this procedure on patients after getting proper dialysis training. They are trained for it and work under physicians. They take care of this treatment for the patients, who are suffering from kidney diseases.

With Dialysis Technician Training, pursue a rewarding career!

You like to help people, and interested in technology? Do you want a job in healthcare field?

If yes is the answer, then you should definitely go for the Dialysis Technician Training. There are enough options to choose from in this field but a dialysis technician stands out from all of them. You will need dialysis training if you want to pursue a career as these specialists who are also known as nephrology technicians or renal technicians.

These specialists mainly operate the dialysis equipments in the hospital for the patients who are suffering from kidney diseases. Various diseases like diabetes, Kidney stone, and infections can effect kidney’s functioning. The organ can stop doing its work which is removing waste from human body. To filter all the waste fluids from blood, patients need the dialysis procedure. This process can take several hours and usually needed two times in a week.

These technicians are the one who are trained to operate the machine under the supervision of doctors and nurses. They monitor the patients, check their vitals, and keep them calm. It is their responsibility to make sure that the machine is clean, sterilized and working properly. It is a very important job because the life of the patient depends on the specialist, it is necessary that you have full knowledge of the medical instrument and how it works. These specialists are in great demand in health care field and it makes it a great career choice.

In the training, they learn many things like:
1. Learning about the hemodialysis procedure
2. Handling, cleaning the machine
3. Monitoring the equipment
4. Anatomy and Physiology
5. About various kidney diseases
6. Treatment and medication of the patient
7. Role of body fluids
8. All kind of dialysis procedures

These programs usually take 6 to 12 weeks and after getting your diploma, you can get a good job in this field. These programs provide you the academic and practical training. In the academic training, you will get the knowledge of various diseases and medical equipment needed. In the practical training, you will learn about the equipments and how to manage them. It also teaches you how to interact with the patient. It is necessary that the person is calm and comfortable during the process.

After completing the program and getting the certificate or diploma, you can easily find a job at a hospital or a clinic with good salary. In some states, you will have to clear the license exam for this field but it is different for each state. Some states have the rule of license while some states like New York do not have this exam.

Kidney Related Problems and Prevention

Kidneys are integral part of human body. Kidneys help in excreting wastes from the body. The basic structure of human body is cells, on similar patterns the basic structure of kidneys is nephrons. There are times when kidneys are not able to function properly due to number of reasons. To help with this cause, Dialysis Technique is a boon for patients suffering from kidney failures or so. It is approximately two liters of urine, which is excreted, with the help of kidneys on daily basis. Dialysis technique allows individuals suffering from kidney-failure to live their lives comfortably; however, the relief provided from dialysis technique is temporary.  

Structure:
Kidneys are bean-shaped structure having length of 4-5 inches, width of 2.5 inches and thickness of 1.6 inches. Kidneys are located above the Urinary Bladder from where the excreta of human wastes take place.

Functions:

• Excretion of wastes: One of the main functions of kidneys is to excrete the waste of human body.
• Maintaining Blood Pressure: Kidneys help in maintaining extra-cellular levels, which help in regulating the blood pressure.
• Secretion of Hormones: When oxygen level is low then kidneys release a hormone known as erythropoietin to stabilize the lox oxygen levels.
• Osmosis Regulation: Osmosis is a process, which helps in reabsorbing the water, and kidneys perform this action beautifully.
• Reabsorbing Vital Nutrients: Metabolism leads to excretion of vital nutrients. Then kidneys play a vital role in absorbing the nutrients.

Dialysis technician training is categorized mainly into two types:

1. Hemodialysis:  In this kind of technique, a Dialyzer is used which acts a temporary kidney for a patient. It helps in filtering the blood from wastes, extra salts, and fluid. The dialyser-a machine helps in collecting blood in a pouch then filters the blood and transforms into the other pouch to regulate the blood into the body.  It is done three to four times a week and it takes only 2 to 3 hours for the whole process.
2. Peritoneal Dialysis: In this technique, dialysis solution is put into the abdomen. This kind of dialysis helps in filtering the blood, and transforms it into a catheter and transforms back to body but it is time consuming and it takes around eight hours for the same. It can be done when one is sleeping.

Kidney Failures:
There are number of reasons why kidneys fail. The answer might be varying from individual to individual, it might be due to genetic problem, unhealthy lifestyle, and donating one of the kidneys leads to pressure on other one or any other prevailing issue. This can be cured by the help of dialysis technique.

How to become a proficient Dialysis technician

The profile of Dialysis technician is one of the fastest growing medical careers that can be quite rewarding and can give you number of career benefits such as good salary, job security, and more.

If you are interested in working in medical field, consider the opportunities available in this field. Here is some information on what an individual needs to become renal or hemodialysis tech. In order to enter this field, you need to a earn high school diploma or degree through an accredited school, college, or online institution.

However, you can also get on the job training, but this way of getting knowledge is becoming less common as most employers prefer to work with applicants who have already completed training in this medical field. The dialysis training teaches the students practical and theoretical fundamentals of the field.

For those who are interested in pursuing education in this field, here is some information on the core curriculum. Most common training programs include course topics introduction to dialysis environment, medical devices of the field, body fluid chemistry; safety control for infection, theory and principles of hemodialysis, function of kidneys, vascular access, anatomy and physiology, procedures and complications, and more.

Professional training institutes provide students access to classroom as well as hands on training. The programs are designed in such a way that enhances not only the theoretical knowledge of the students but also give them a chance to get real world experience by working with patients through internship.

During training students will learn how to operate machines and other tools used in the process, how to prepare patient for the procedure, how to take blood pressure and other vital signs, how to work under the instructions of physician, nurses, or other medical professionals. Apart from this students also learn to clean and maintain equipment, prepare treatment solutions, to analyze process outputs, to perform accurate calculation for fluid removal rate etc.

After completing training, students become eligible to apply in hospitals, medical offices, or in ambulatory treatment services. Growth in this medical field is considered based upon your experience and education. Certification issue to you after training shows your knowledge and skills to work efficiently with kidney patients. In this way, training provides students an opportunity to work closely with patients and support them emotionally and medically in tough situations.

What are the duties of dialysis technician, and how to become one?

Dialysis Specialist also known as Renal Dialysis Technician and Hemodialysis Technician, they are medical professionals who assist patients suffering from kidney failure and other medical conditions.

Likewise, other medical professionals in health center like nurses and assistants, who have to report to their higher authority, they also have to report to a registered nurse.

Following is the job description of dialysis technician:

• Firstly, technician job task is to make patients comfortable.
• Set up, operate, and maintain the hemodialysis machine to provide dialysis treatment for patients suffering from kidney failure.
• According to the given formula, dialysate is mixed accordingly.
• Make patients positioned on the lounge chair at hemodialysis machine.
• Sending patient to dialysis room
• Note all vital signs of patients like pre-dialysis and post-dialysis weight, temperature, blood pressure, pulse rate, and respiration rate.
• Before conducting the treatment, dialysis procedure is explained to the patient.
• After the procedure is conducted, the area is cleaned with antiseptic solution.
• Connecting properly the hemodialysis machine to patient’s forearm
• Inspect equipment are kept cleaned and met to safety standards. This helps make sure that no mistake is done so that proper treatment is carried out.
• Ensure that certain limit of arterial pressure is given to patients.
• For proper dialysis procedure, proper fluid removal or replacement is done.
• Monitor patients so that no adverse reactions are caused.

If you are interesting in this profile, you must know the procedure for involved. If no, read the following information for it.

To become a registered dialysis technician, you need to go for proper training program from a reputed institute.

While selecting an educational center for education, you need to see whether they provide quality education, do they have qualified lecturers, is the school certified and lastly experienced in making students trained. These factors are important to consider while selecting an institute because not all are good in providing equivalent quality education.

Besides all the above aspects, candidate must see training curriculum, as well. A proper theoretical and hands on training should be imparted to students pursuing education in dialysis field.

Lastly, you must check whether the institute provides certification after successful completion of the course. Certificates are important to get because those are the only proof of candidate being trained in dialysis specialist field. Moreover, only via showing proper certificates or credentials, candidate can get his or her preferred job.