I had a learning day about CKD, renal dialysis and AKI on the 23/05/25.

Although I have had a whole placement on renal dialysis in the past, I found this beneficial to my learning and growth to develop my knowledge in this long term-condition and a opportunity to learn new things. I learnt that AKI is a syndrome not a diagnosis and health care professionals use KDIGO which stands for Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes. KDIGO provides national guidelines and is a nonprofit global organisation developing and implementing evidence-based practice guidelines.

I learnt that the prevalence of AKI is because of factors such as diabetes is increasing in individuals. I also learnt that hyperkalemia is when potassium is to high above 5.5. This can be life threatening for people that have renal disease/AKI. The normal ranges for potassium is 4.0- 5.0 and it is crucial to the heart function and can cause arrhythmias if it is too low or too high.

I also learnt that it is important to check patients creatinine. This is because when patients become ill less creatinine is generated which can result in a decrease of muscle mass. Creatinine also assists in the results of the EGFR score which is the kidney function/stage (1-5).

The management of CKD is iron and epo to manage anemia, managing the underlying cause for example diabetes, control the patients blood pressure and finally prepare for renal dialysis or kidney transplant.

Overall, this learning day made me feel more confident in renal and how to meet patients needs and carry out necessary assessments.