Hendricks Regional Health offers a dialysis center for hospital inpatients with acute renal failure. Although this condition can be life threatening, it can also be reversible. Patients whose kidneys have suffered from a direct injury or an obstruction are at highest risk. Nationwide, up to five percent of hospitalized patients develop acute renal failure.
Acute Renal Failure
In patients with fully-functioning kidneys, wastes and excess fluids are filtered and removed from the blood and turned into urine by the kidneys. When acute kidney failure occurs, the kidneys are operating at less than 10 percent of normal function. This means wastes build up in the bloodstream. If it isn't removed, a patient will become extremely ill.
There are many causes of acute renal failure, including “crush” injuries, over-exposure to metals, solvents or certain antibiotics, infection or a blockage in the urinary tract or renal artery, or extreme low blood pressure that deprives the kidneys of oxygen.
When a patient goes into renal failure, dialysis can be a life-saving substitute for fully-functioning kidneys. We use a hemodialysis process which involves a semipermeable membrane, called a dialyzer, and a special fluid, called dialysate, to filter waste and remove extra fluid. Blood circulates through the dialyzer for several hours during each treatment. Hemodialysis is most often done three times per week with each dialysis session lasting four-to-six hours.
Inpatient Dialysis Center
There are four treatment areas for hemodialysis in our dialysis center. Patients can be brought from the medical and surgical units for treatment. ICU patients will receive treatment at the bedside with portable dialysis machines.
The nurse-to-patient ratio is one nurse to two patients in the dialysis center, and dialysis nurses will be available on an on-call basis. The dialysis center is staffed by specially-trained nurses from DaVita Inc. They provide education for patients with chronic kidney failure and end stage renal disease.
Nephrologists in the Hendricks Regional Health Medical Group
We offer two convenient locations in both Danville and Brownsburg. Hendricks Nephrology Associates is located in suite 145 of building three at our Danville Campus. Hendricks Regional Health Nephrology and Hypertension Associates is located in suite 260 at the Brownsburg Hospital.
Services include:
- Kidney problems
- Hypertension
- Dialysis (Hemodialysis and Peritoneal Dialysis)
- Transplant follow-up
Need to contact us? Call us at (317) 718-2460