The impact of a nurse-led clinic on self-care ability, disease-specific knowledge, and home dialysis modality.

A nurse-led clinic focusing on education and self-care for patients with advanced renal failure was introduced in a renal outpatient clinic in Sweden. The purpose was to enhance patients' disease-related knowledge, involvement, and self-care ability. This article reports the results of a study comparing patient outcomes with the nurse-led clinic to the previous model of care. The hypothesis was that the nurse-led clinic would increase medical control and self-care outcomes. The participants in the nurse-led clinic chose and started dialysis in a self-care alternative and also had a functioning, permanent dialysis access to a greater extent than the patients in the comparison group. Those choosing home-hemodialysis rated their self-care ability higher. The participants rated self-care and effects of treatment options on family and everyday life as the most important disease-related areas of knowledge.