Design Requirements for a Monitoring System for a Mobile Hemodialysis Device: Patients’ and Care Partners’ Perspectives

Although mobile hemodialysis treatments have been found to be an effective alternative to current in-center and home-based hemodialysis treatments, many barriers to its successful implementation remain. These barriers include the lack of considering user-centered monitoring protocols. This study investigates 24 patients’ and 12 care partners’ expectations for monitoring procedures for a mobile hemodialysis device. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted at three locations within the Veterans Affairs Health Care System: Seattle, WA; Nashville, TN; and Louisville, KY. All interviews were transcribed and analyzed using inductive or deductive content analysis approaches. We identified 10 categories of indicators suggesting patients’ needs to receive dialysis treatment and 11 categories of indicators suggesting patients’ successful dialysis treatment. Furthermore, we identified six categories of patients’ and care partners’ design expectations for monitoring procedures. The findings from this study have the potential to guide the development of a monitoring system to help ensure users’ acceptance of future mobile hemodialysis devices.