The dialysis staff workload and the blood volume tracking system during the hemodialysis sessions of hypotension-prone patients.

Purpose: Intradialytic hypotension (IDH) represents a common hemodialysis (HD) complication. Blood volume tracking (BVT) is a tool regulating the relative blood volume changes and potentially reducing the occurrence of IDH. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of BVT to reduce the staff workload associated to IDH.
Methods: Ten hypotension-prone HD patients were treated each with 39 conventional HD (HD) sessions and then switched to 39 HD sessions with BVT (HD-BVT). The staff interventions related to IDH were monitored by a trained staff.
Results: Dialysis sessions complicated by IDH and staff interventions were affected by BVT (HD: 102 and 127 vs. HD-BVT: 57 and 59, respectively, for both p<0.001). The time consumed by staff in IDH management was decreased by HD-BVT (1416 vs. 578 min, p<0.001).
Conclusions: The effectiveness of BVT to reduce the frequency of IDH leads to a reduction of the dialysis staff workload with fewer staff interventions, allowing for major work-time saving.