Implementing Evidence-Based Vitamin D Protocol in the Dialysis Clinic: An Educational Approach

Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and even more pronounced in patients with kidney failure who are undergoing peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis. This project was a nurse practitioner-led quality improvement project conducted in an outpatient hemodialysis unit that focused on determining if educating providers and hemodialysis unit clinical staff on vitamin D guidelines increased the awareness and monitoring of patients on hemodialysis. The number of patients screened for vitamin D levels increased from 29% to 100%, and 70% of patients tested were deficient in vitamin D. While the follow-up monitoring yielded a result of only 32%, we recommend processes and structures for long-term sustainability, such as periodic re-education, reminders and prompts for conducting needed follow-up, continued outcome monitoring, and champions to support the ongoing processes and structures.