By Ron Cullen, Chief Executive, Renal Association The UK Renal Registry’s mission statement, “Putting Data into Action” aims to improve patient care by national audit and supporting research, innovation and quality improvement (QI). As the quality of the Registry’s data has improved, so has the desire to make a positive difference to kidney patients with the data we collect, and to ensure “quality assurance and quality…
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Summer is finally here! 24’C outside and the hospital radiators in my office are still on! I’m hot, thirsty and so are my patients on the ward. In the news, unbelievably there are still recurring headlines of patients dying from thirst in UK hospitals and care homes.1 Why is it so hard to ensure patients are getting enough to drink? Why is this still happening? If…
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It has been widely agreed for many years that iodine-based radiological contrast can cause AKI, particularly in those patients who are deemed high risk. However, as newer research is published, the risk of developing AKI from contrast, may now not be as significant as first thought, with some authors even questioning its existence! Part of the problem is that many studies in the past, attributed any…
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The second in our iSpyAKI blogs: Working in Critical Care it is quite easy to get a skewed view on what AKI complications occur throughout the hospital, based on the type of patients that grace the critical care unit. Often, many that require Critical Care are admitted because of an AKI complication directly, requiring close monitoring and / or dialysis. It is safe to say, that…
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This is my first blog from a critical care perspective for ThinkKidneys. This winter has seen the NHS face some of its toughest operational challenges to date, with many patients attending hospital being far sicker and in greater numbers. In the district general hospital where I work, there has been a noticeable rise in AKI associated inpatient mortality, rising from an average of 16.7% in non-elective…
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