I would travel to Accra and Kumasi, Ghana, with a nephrologist from Seattle Children's Hospital, to help train local surgeons in placement of peritoneal dialysis catheters. These catheters allow patients with kidney failure to receive dialysis at home, freeing them from expensive and time-consuming hemodialysis, which can only be providing in an in-hospital setting in urban centers, in Ghana.
Ghanaian patients with kidney failure, pediatric and adult, currently only have access to life-saving dialysis in an in-patient setting through hemodialysis. We have chosen Ghana based on my nephrology partner's established relationship with in-country nephrologists and a desire by the local team to increase capacity with peritoneal dialysis.
We plan to mentor local surgeons in placement of peritoneal dialysis catheters in 50 patients across two hospitals/cities. We have in place planning for long-term followup for complications, efficacy, life impact. in addition, we are developing both pre- and post-implementation video-based conferences to assess the impact of our surgical training and assure smooth handoff so that local surgeons can carry o this work independently.
we spent 10 days in ghana (mostly in Accra and a quick trip to Kumasi). we worked with practicing urologic and general surgeons to increase their capacity in placement of peritoneal dialysis catheters to allow home dialysis. this is in lieu of hemodialysis, which requires at least three times weekly sessions in hospital, which is costly and disruptive. we worked with lovely OR staff and motivated surgeons. definitely a 'teach the teacher' kind of trip, and it really felt like the local surgeons will be able to carry this forward and not only provide great care for their patients immediately but also train additional surgeons.
our patients ranged in ages and backgrounds and underlying kidney diseases and we are really hopeful that transition to peritoneal dialysis from hemodialysis will be helpful in simplifying their care and liberating them from the onerous processes of in-hospital care.
we are very grateful to the Doximity Foundation for supporting travel for this trip!
