Media Release

Home Guide a Boost for Dialysis Patients

14 March 2005
  
North West Dialysis Service patient John Hamilton has used his professional photography and training skills to create a home haemodialysis guide which is simple, packed with information and - most importantly - written from a patient's perspective.

The Haemodialysis Home Training booklet is a clear, step-by-step guide for patients using the Gambro AK95 haemodialysis machine at home. Around 60-80 of NWDS patients dialyse at home.

One of the highlights of the booklet is the colour photographs, which clearly identify and explain each piece of equipment used in home haemodialysis.

NWDS Director Julie Owen said: 'This has made training for patients so much easier. John has rewritten our old information and made it much clearer and easier to read. The photos are excellent.

'The contents have been checked by three staff and the guide is now an invaluable tool for us to train patients for home haemodialysis.'

John spent 100 hours putting the guide together, as well as a separate equipment booklet, including taking all the photos, labelling the components, and explaining each step of doing dialysis at home in layman's terms.

'As a trainer (in digital photography) I know that visual guides are much easier. People also like to know why their doing something as well as how, and to read instructions in a language they understand,' John said.

'The patient guide is now simpler, colour coded, and has large type which can be read from a metre away, which is extremely useful when you are preparing for a dialysis session at home.

'I had polycystic kidney disease for 16 years, which finally led to kidney failure. I became extremely ill and had to go on dialysis.

'I wanted to say thanks to the Dialysis Service for the help I got here, once I was feeling better. I did the training for home haemodialysis and saw that with my professional skills, I could help to improve the instructions provided for patients.'

John's employer PMP Digital has also been a generous supporter of the project, printing the guide and extra copies, as well as a CD version with all sections fully linked, and which can be used for screening at group education sessions.

Pictured above: John Hamilton (left) talks through his manual with NWDS Director Julie
Owen, and home dialysis trainers Yeoki and John George