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Healthcare
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Management of the Patient with Kidney Disease: 2nd Edition
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Management of the Patient with Kidney Disease: 2nd Edition

A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 2 September 2026 | Viewed by 2720

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Helen Noble

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Medical Biology Centre, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen’s University, Belfast BT9 7BL, UK
Interests: mindfulness; well-being; quality of life; complimentary therapies; palliative care; nephrology; qualitative
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Clare McKeaveney

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Medical Biology Centre, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen’s University, Belfast BT9 7BL, UK
Interests: well-being; quality of life; palliative care; nephrology; mixed methods; cachexia
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

The nephrology speciality is a dynamic, diverse, and holistic practice specialty centred around working with patients and families to assess and address health and offer support and interventions to prevent disease. The care offered by the healthcare team traverses the life cycle and includes patients in the early stages of kidney disease, those presenting with acute kidney injury, others who commence kidney replacement therapy or receive a kidney transplant, and those who follow a supportive and palliative care pathway. Multi-professional teams are highly skilled professionals who require expertise in a patient population with several associated comorbid conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hypertension. In addition, many patients are debilitated psychosocially by issues such as depression and anxiety. This calls for a holistic approach to patient care that is both challenging and rewarding. Driven by technological and educational advances, nephrology is a dynamic field offering complex interventions to support the physical and psychological needs of this population. 

This Special Issue seeks articles (original clinical studies and reviews) related to the quality and safe management of patients with kidney disease including supportive interventions. This invitation is addressed to all healthcare professionals (i.e., physicians, nurses, pharmacists, psychologists, dietitians, physical therapists, occupational therapists, physical and behavioural therapists, social workers) who are involved in the care of patients with kidney disease.

Prof. Dr. Helen Noble
Dr. Clare McKeaveney
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • kidney
  • nephrology
  • kidney transplant
  • acute kidney injury
  • supportive and palliative care
  • multi-professional team
  • renal replacement therapy
  • dialysis

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 603 KB  
Article
Lived Experiences of Women with Arteriovenous Fistula Undergoing Hemodialysis: A Phenomenological Study
by Bo Min Kim and Jin Ah Kim
Healthcare 2026, 14(10), 1296; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare14101296 - 11 May 2026
Viewed by 356
Abstract
Background/Objectives: An arteriovenous fistula (AVF) is the preferred vascular access for hemodialysis (HD). Beyond its clinical function, an AVF creates visible bodily changes that may affect identity, social positioning, and psychological adaptation. Women undergoing HD via an AVF may perceive these changes in [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: An arteriovenous fistula (AVF) is the preferred vascular access for hemodialysis (HD). Beyond its clinical function, an AVF creates visible bodily changes that may affect identity, social positioning, and psychological adaptation. Women undergoing HD via an AVF may perceive these changes in relation to sociocultural expectations surrounding body image and gender roles. This study explored the lived experiences of women undergoing HD via an AVF and considered the implications for AVF management. Methods: Using Colaizzi’s descriptive phenomenological method, in-depth interviews were conducted with nine women undergoing regular HD via an AVF in South Korea. The data were analyzed to identify essential themes and the fundamental structure of their experiences. Results: The essential structure was described as “women’s lives shaken and repositioned amid visible, life-sustaining bodily changes.” Three interrelated theme clusters emerged: shaken self-confrontation of the visible body; being repositioned within the relational world; and acceptance formed within the polarity of life and threat. The visibility of the AVF influences identity, autonomy, and social interactions. Conclusions: AVF management should extend beyond technical maintenance and include psychosocial assessments and sex-sensitive supportive strategies. Addressing the visible and relational dimensions of the AVF may enhance the quality and safety of HD care. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Management of the Patient with Kidney Disease: 2nd Edition)
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14 pages, 664 KB  
Article
Indicators of Safety and Wellbeing in Patients Starting Maintenance Haemodialysis Using Phased Approach: Findings from a Cohort Feasibility Study
by Adil M. Hazara, Maureen Twiddy, Victoria Allgar and Sunil Bhandari
Healthcare 2026, 14(9), 1117; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare14091117 - 22 Apr 2026
Viewed by 400
Abstract
Background: The optimal method of starting maintenance haemodialysis (HD) in patients with kidney failure is not known. We have compared early treatment characteristics, blood pressure trajectories, and selected dialysis-related safety events in patients who started HD using a stepped and phased approach, with [...] Read more.
Background: The optimal method of starting maintenance haemodialysis (HD) in patients with kidney failure is not known. We have compared early treatment characteristics, blood pressure trajectories, and selected dialysis-related safety events in patients who started HD using a stepped and phased approach, with those who received conventional care. Method: A single-centre cohort feasibility study was conducted. Participants with kidney failure, about to start maintenance HD, were enrolled prospectively (intervention arm). They started treatment on a novel regime comprising four pre-specified incremental steps (Phases 1 to 4) over 14 weeks. They were matched using propensity scores with historical controls: patients who had previously started HD on a three-times weekly basis from the outset (control arm). Results: The final cohort comprised 15 and 29 participants in the intervention and control arms respectively (1:2 ratio; one control excluded after matching). Intervention group participants were slightly older with a higher proportion of men. The rate of decline in blood pressure was slower in the intervention group. There were also signals for fewer events of intra-dialytic hypotension (211 vs. 379 per 100 person-year), infections not requiring admission (56 vs. 114 per 100 person-year) and loss of vascular access (56 vs. 79 per 100 person-year) in intervention group. There was a signal for higher incidence of severe hypertension (systolic BP ≥ 180 or diastolic BP ≥ 110 mmHg) in the intervention group. Hospitalisation rates were similar; there were no deaths and one non-fatal major cardiac event (MACE) in the intervention group, and one death and no MACE in the control group. Conclusions: Implementing a short transitional regime of incremental HD may be possible in clinical settings, potentially helping to reduce the gradient of physiological change and burden of early treatment. The findings of this feasibility study are exploratory, and fully powered randomised controlled trials are needed to establish the efficacy and safety of such a programme. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Management of the Patient with Kidney Disease: 2nd Edition)
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14 pages, 764 KB  
Article
Phased Introduction of Haemodialysis in Patients with Kidney Failure: A Mixed-Methods Feasibility Study
by Adil M. Hazara, Maureen Twiddy, Victoria Allgar and Sunil Bhandari
Healthcare 2026, 14(6), 792; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare14060792 - 20 Mar 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 309
Abstract
Background: Introducing haemodialysis (HD) treatment in a phased manner, with lower treatment times at the outset combined with pre-defined increments in treatment over a period of several weeks, reduces the early burden of treatment in patients with kidney failure and may help [...] Read more.
Background: Introducing haemodialysis (HD) treatment in a phased manner, with lower treatment times at the outset combined with pre-defined increments in treatment over a period of several weeks, reduces the early burden of treatment in patients with kidney failure and may help improve early outcomes. We have evaluated the feasibility of a novel transitional HD regime using a mixed-methods approach. Method: A single-centre cohort design was adopted, where participants were enrolled prospectively into an interventional arm and matched with historical controls. This paper reports on the feasibility of recruitment and retention in the prospective arm. People with kidney failure, starting HD treatment in out-patient settings, were recruited. They started HD on a transitional regime, with four pre-specified incremental steps (Phases 1 to 4), which aimed to establish participants on long-term 3× weekly treatments over 14 weeks. Participants’ experiences of starting HD in a phased manner were analysed using semi-structured interviews. Results: We screened 127 people over 18 months: eligible: 54 (43%); enrolled: 25 (46% of eligible). Fifteen started HD within the study timeframe; 14 were retained for 6 months. In 13 participants, the regime was altered (mostly during Phase 2) for clinical or scheduling reasons. Semi-structured interviews (n = 11) found participants overwhelmingly liked the phased HD introduction as an aid to becoming normalised to dialysis routines. Alterations to treatment were not associated with adverse experiences. Participants would highly recommend starting dialysis in this stepped and phased manner. Conclusions: It is feasible to enrol and retain participants in the proposed program of phased start of HD. The regime may be implemented flexibly in future trials. Starting dialysis on a less-than-three-times weekly basis was well received by participants. Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov registration NCT04268264 (registered: 11 February 2020). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Management of the Patient with Kidney Disease: 2nd Edition)
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18 pages, 1365 KB  
Article
Global Research on Hemodialysis Nutrition and Patient-Centered Priorities: A Bibliometric Analysis (2006–2025)
by Chin-Huan Huang, Ming-Chi Lu and Malcolm Koo
Healthcare 2026, 14(1), 28; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare14010028 - 22 Dec 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1155
Abstract
Background: Optimal nutritional care is essential to improving outcomes in hemodialysis, yet translation of evidence into routine practice remains uneven across settings. To inform health system planning and implementation priorities, we mapped global research on hemodialysis-related nutrition. Methods: We searched the Web of [...] Read more.
Background: Optimal nutritional care is essential to improving outcomes in hemodialysis, yet translation of evidence into routine practice remains uneven across settings. To inform health system planning and implementation priorities, we mapped global research on hemodialysis-related nutrition. Methods: We searched the Web of Science Core Collection for English-language original articles on nutrition and hemodialysis from 1 January 2006 to 13 October 2025. Publication trends, productivity by country and institution, influential journals and authors, citation impact, and conceptual structure via Keyword Plus co-occurrence, trend, and thematic evolution analyses were assessed using the bibliometrix package (version 5.0) in R. Results: A total of 332 articles from 115 journals were identified, with substantial growth and multidisciplinary authorship, though international collaboration remains limited. The United States contributed 21.4% of publications and achieved the highest citation impact, while China, Japan, Iran, and Brazil formed the next tier of contributors. The Journal of Renal Nutrition accounted for 16.6% of papers. Highly cited studies established links between dietary intake, mineral and electrolyte management, and survival, while supporting the use of intradialytic oral nutritional supplements. Thematic evolution showed a shift from biochemical markers toward patient-centered priorities, including diet quality, adherence, body composition, mental health, and quality of life. Emerging directions point to whole-diet approaches and microbiome-modulating strategies. Conclusions: Global research on diet and hemodialysis has progressed from foundational nutrient studies to multidimensional, patient-focused approaches. Our findings suggest opportunities for health systems to strengthen dietitian-led models of care, integrate patient-reported outcomes, and prioritize scalable nutrition interventions within routine dialysis services. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Management of the Patient with Kidney Disease: 2nd Edition)
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