Pretransplant hemodialysis: Lived experiences

Introduction: End-stage renal disease (ESRD) is a rapidly increasing global health problem where the kidney damage is irreversible. Worldwide, hemodialysis is the most common kidney replacement therapy which increases longevity but is not the ultimate cure, and at the same time, there are multiple complications associated with this treatment modality making life miserable for these patients. Plenty of literature is available on patient education, side effects, and complications of hemodialysis, but very few attempts have been made to understand patients' experiences living on dialysis. Materials and Methods: A phenomenological research design was adopted to explore lived experiences of patients on hemodialysis. Using purposive sampling technique, adult (60 years) posttransplant patients who had hemodialysis at least for 6 months during pretransplantation phase were enrolled. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, analyzed using descriptive statistics for quantitative and Colaizzi's method for qualitative data. Results: The most common medical diagnosis was unknown chronic glomerulonephritis, and the prevalent comorbid condition was hypertension. Based on participants' verbatim, total 5 themes and 13 subthemes were extracted after data analysis. The main themes emerged were disease- and dialysis-associated problems, emotional turmoil, financial burden, social isolation, and changes in lifestyle. Conclusion: The present study concluded that ESRD patients on haemodialysis experienced physiological disturbances, emotional distress and financial burden. Social isolation, financial constraints, and changes in lifestyle were major challenges faced by patients. Professionals need empathic attitude to deal with patients on hemodialysis to minimize their sufferings.