Dialysis
Confidence in Dialysis staff and transplantation
February 3, 2026
in Dialysis
I saw an interesting article about dialysis staff and there lack of understanding about transplantation. I am curious for my kidney friends what have you or did you see at your dialysis clinic regarding transplant education? Here is a link to the article, now I didn't vet it but it seems legit.
Would love people's insight
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-dialysis-center-staff-lacking-knowledge.html
Tagged:
1 - 7 of 7 Replies
@Berriosa1234 Thanks for sharing this. I admittedly wasn't this expecting to be citing a KI Reports article. KI Reports is peer-reviewed and essentially an offshoot publication of the International Society of Nephrology, so to say they're reputable is an understatement. In my experience, so many dialysis staff are wildly overworked and underpaid so I'm not entirely shocked to hear about these educational disparities. If anything, articles like this reemphasize how important self-advocacy is when it comes to transplant.
100 percent my friend. i wish there was a standard of practice that dialysis clinics dealt with and had knowledge about transplant. Like you mentioned the overworked and underpaid staff members and the high turnover is unfortunate.
I wish this could be universal for everyone. I was fortunate that my dialysis nurses and nephrologists were knowledgeable and understanding of transplantation. While I was going through the process, my situation became difficult, and my nephrologist, social worker, and nurse practitioner all reached out to the transplant team. They stayed in constant contact when things became serious. After my transplant, when I faced fluid overload, my nephrologist again contacted the transplant center directly to guide the next steps. I know how rare that is, and I wish everyone could have that level of support.
Curious to hear what kind of information would be most helpful to start the conversation about the concept of transplantation? Everyone deserves the chance to learn!
Hi @kidneyptnr1 Great question, what kind of information are you looking for re: concept of transplantation? Early education from dialysis staff? nephrologists? PCPs? how do you like to retain information? visual? or written word? Lets look to discuss it here! thanks again -Alex
As a former dialysis tech, I think a lot depends on the clinic’s size and staffing. As many of us know, turnover in dialysis clinics is quite high, and that often leads to gaps, especially in areas viewed as “less essential,” such as modality or transplant education. Of course, that education is extremely important to us as patients, but in a clinic setting, the primary focus is always the treatment itself.
I was at an advantage because I had been a patient, so I was able to answer questions about transplant and knew who to ask for additional resources. New nurses and techs who have no prior experience with transplant or dialysis rely heavily on the company’s education program to learn what they need to know.
Larger clinics may have more long-term staff who can more easily step into an educator role, while smaller clinics often struggle just to keep up with day-to-day operations.
As a former dialysis tech i only lasted 9 months before i quit, but i struggled with time management but yeah i think clinics large and small have a lot of the same issues, I hope to bring some of this kinds of discussions to the clinic i attended to see what it is they know about transplant.