Re-Engineering Dialysis

The Center for Innovation's design research aimed to understand specific behaviors, needs, goals, motivations and expectations of current and future Mayo Clinic dialysis patients to create true-to-life representations of the patient experience within their community.

The Division of Nephrology and Hypertension's Re-Engineering Dialysis (RED) Project intends to design and implement a system to manage all care required by end-stage renal disease patients enrolled in Mayo Clinic's dialysis services network.

 

Outcomes

This system will improve the value of care delivered to Mayo Clinic dialysis patients through improved outcomes and bundled reimbursement.
 
The three goals of the Re-Engineering Dialysis project are:

 

  • Continue to decrease hospitalizations
  • Decrease costs in outpatient clinics
  • Decrease catheter use
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"This was a key breakthrough in helping our staff understand all of the nonmedical issues that impact patients' lives and their individual needs. We were really able to identify opportunities to better educate and prepare patients for the upcoming decisions as their disease progresses," says Stephen F. Gudgell, administrator for the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

 

"The amazing thing has been to observe how really understanding the patient's perspective seems to have given permission for people to take risks and try new things," says Kathryn W. Zavaleta, a senior systems analyst in Systems and Procedures at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Resources

Amy W. Williams, M.D., a nephrologist at Mayo Clinic, and Krisa N. Ryan, a designer in the Center for Innovation, presented at Mayo Clinic's Transform 2012 about the Re-Engineering Dialysis project.