New Chronic Dialysis Unit to open at
University of Colorado Hospital
A new outpatient unit for people who need regular dialysis therapy for kidney failure will open in mid-April at University of Colorado Hospital. The unit will be the first of its kind at the hospital and will provide continuity of care from the outpatient to acute care setting.
Hospital administrators said the new unit would be an ‘intimate patient- and family-centered’ facility where adult patients can receive dialysis treatment three times a week. The new unit will have 10 treatment chairs and will be housed in the critical care tower at the University of Colorado Hospital’s Ninth Avenue and Colorado Boulevard campus.
Demand for regular dialysis treatments is high in the Denver area, and hospital administrators realized the need to provide a unit that could meet the day-to-day needs of patients struggling with end-stage renal disease. There are about 20 other chronic dialysis treatment units in the Metropolitan area.
“ Many of these patients will be new to the dialysis ‘way of life.’ Some of these patients will have had kidney failure for many years, and some will be awaiting kidney transplants,” said Carolyn Sanders, RN, MSN, director of critical care nursing and dialysis programs at University of Colorado Hospital.
In the past, University of Colorado Hospital patients who needed regular, chronic dialysis treatments were referred to other outpatient centers. When chairs were not available elsewhere in the community, patients had to go to the UCH’s acute dialysis unit, which handles hospitalized patients.
Renal failure can require lifetime dialysis treatments or a kidney transplant. Patients who do not receive adequate care can become seriously ill and die. In many cases, kidney disease is a complication of diabetes or high blood pressure. Early detection of this complication can delay progression to renal failure.
For information on becoming a patient at the chronic dialysis unit at University of Colorado Hospital, call 303-372-6553.
