Information technology for quality assessment of Hemodialysis Services
Several clinical studies have shown that the “Failure to Adhere” to the hemodialysis treatment plan is related to a worsening of the long-term outcomes in dialysis patients. We are currently working on a software tool called EMOSTAT, which is able to automatically collect the hemodialisys data, to compare them with the prescriptions and to highlight the reasons of “the failures to adhere” by statistical analysis. The software design follows the principles of data mining tools, thus enabling the user to “drill down” the data, starting from the dialysis-centre view and moving to the single patient analysis.
During the patients’ monitoring period the software allowed to highlight vascular problems, and to intervene on the patients’ vascular access. Moreover, it enabled the dialysis centre to solve the non-adherence problems related to the Bulk blood flow. Finally, it clearly identified the management of the Body weight as the main failure problem of the dialysis centre. EMOSTAT demonstrated to be a reliable and efficient tool for the automated auditing of hemodialysis sessions.
Application:
EMOSTAT:
Implementation of an automated system for monitoring adherence to
hemodialysis treatment: a report of seven years of experience.
People working on this topic:
Riccardo Bellazzi, Cristiana Larizza, Paolo Magni, Lucia Sacchi