Self Care Behavior of Hemodialysis Patients

혈액투석환자의 자가간호행위

Purpose: The purpose of this study was two folds: first, to identify the level of self care behavior of the hemodialysis patients and second, to find the correlation between the self care behavior and the physiologic indices. Method: The subjects were 52 hemodialysis patients, male and female, who have regularly received hemodialysis dialysis at the Dialysis Room in a leading teaching hospital, Seoul. The patients responded to the self care behavior questionnaires including their socio-demographic characteristics. The respondents have regularly recorded the self care log book. The physiologic indices, clinical characteristics related to the disease and hemodialysis were collected by the chart review. Result: The mean score of the self care behavior was 3.46. The mean score of the self care behavior on categories demonstrated as follows: medication 4.29, fistula management 4.13, management of physical problem 3.71, diet 3.28, exercise and rest 3.22, blood pressure and body weight management 2.97 and social adjustment 2.05 in order. Thirty patients managed discomfort of their fistula. Eleven patients took exercise for 0.5-1 hr/week. Thirty patients measured their body weight daily and thirty two measured their blood pressure daily. The score of self care behavior was significantly correlated with the mean weight gains between the dialysis sessions(r=-.312, p=.05). The mean weight gains between dialysis sessions was found to be high as the level of serum phosphorus and potassium increased(r=-.316, p=.05, r=-.465, p=.01). Conclusion: The result suggests that nursing intervention to the hemodialysis patients to improve self care behavior should be encouraged and further developed.