ASN Nephrologists Transforming Dialysis Safety entered into a contract with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2018 to begin assessing human factors related to infection prevention in the dialysis setting. Human factors engineering is a discipline concerned with the design of tools, machines, and systems that consider human capabilities, limitations, and characteristics to improve safety and allow for effective human use.
In the first year, ASN physician volunteers and staff, CDC representatives, and human factors engineers from the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine visited six outpatient dialysis facilities across the country. Using human factors approaches, the teams assessed areas of care that may lead to potential infection-control issues in in-center hemodialysis facilities. This work continued with four additional assessments that were conducted in the second year of the contract. A manuscript describing findings from the initial six assessments is soon to be submitted for publication.
In 2020, ASN was asked to extend its work in this area to look at infection control and prevention in the home dialysis setting. Visits to dialysis facilities were interrupted by the pandemic, but planning continued throughout 2022. In 2023, a team of ASN and CDC staff and human factors engineers visited four home dialysis facilities and 13 patient homes, completing the human factors assessments in home dialysis.
Facility staff and patients who participated in the home assessments were welcoming and provided honest input into their individual infection-prevention practices through demonstration and discussion. The engineers are now compiling human factors findings from the home dialysis assessments into a report for review by the CDC.
Left to right: Yuhao Peng (Carilion Clinic), Sarah Parker (Virginia Tech), facility peritoneal dialysis nurse (back facing camera), Kerry Leigh (ASN staff), and Nicole Gualandi (CDC staff) during a human factors visit to a home dialysis facility, 2023.
Citation: Kidney News 15, 10/11
