Young-Ki Lee, MD, PhDa, Yang-Hyeon Kim, MD, PhDb,c, Do-Hyoung Kim, MD, PhDa, Jin-Heog Kim, MD, PhDd, Jeong-Hwan Lee, MD, PhDe, Ji Hyeon Park, MD, PhDf, Gang-Jee Ko, MD, PhDg, Won-Min Hwang, MD, PhDh, Hyo-Wook Gil, MD, PhDi, Young-Sun Kang, MD, PhDj, Kyu-Bok Jin, MD, PhDk, Jun-Young Do, MD, PhDl, Se-Joong Kim, MD, PhDe,m, Beom-Seok Kim, MD, PhDn, Ho Sik Shin, MD, PhDb,c,*

*Correspondence: Ho Sik Shin, Renal Division, Department of Internal Medicine,

Gospel Hospital, Transplantation Research Institute, Kosin University College of

Medicine, Busan, South Korea, 49267 (e-mail: 67920@naver.com).

Abstract

Background: Patients with kidney failure must make complicated decisions about the dialysis modalities used either at home or in-hospital. Different options have varying levels of impact on patients’ physical and psychological conditions and their social life. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the implementation of an intervention designed to achieve shared decision making (SDM) in patients’ options for dialysis.

Methods: SDM was performed after consent was written for stage 5 chronic kidney disease patients before dialysis, and 435 cases were performed in 408 patients from December 16, 2019 to June 30, 2021. Among these, 101 patients were compared by SDM measurement scale, patient satisfaction, disease recognition scale survey, and dialysis method.

Results: The average age of participants was 56 years, with a gender composition of 55 males (54.5%) and 46 females (45.5%). Following SDM, the final dialysis methods decided upon by patients and clinicians were peritoneal dialysis (67 patients, 66.3%), hemodialysis (22 patients, 21.8%), and kidney transplantation (1 patient, 1.0%).

Conclusions: Among participating patients, SDM was effective when used to decide on dialysis treatment, and patients were satisfied with the dialysis method decision process. On the disease awareness scale, those who participated in this project had relatively high positive and low negative perceptions, so it can be concluded that SDM was relatively effective. The implementation of SDM was helpful in selecting patients’ best dialysis methods, and SDM scale results were higher in the peritoneal dialysis group than in the hemodialysis group.