What Is the Dialysis Laboratory? / What Is Its Purpose?
Üsküdar University Dialysis Laboratory was established to enable students in the Dialysis program to practice treatment processes for patients with kidney failure in a safe, sterile, and realistic simulation environment before transitioning to the clinical setting.
- Main Purpose: To enable students to become closely familiar with renal replacement (replacement of kidney functions) technologies used in the treatment of patients with chronic and acute kidney failure, and to ensure that they fully learn device management and patient safety protocols.
- Academic Contribution: The laboratory transforms theoretical knowledge of nephrology, anatomy, physiology, and dialysis procedures into practical manual skills. It develops students’ operational clinical reflexes, such as fully complying with sterilization rules and recognizing potential complications that may arise during treatment in advance.
Devices and Technical Equipment Available in the Laboratory
The laboratory infrastructure contains all the essential medical device equipment and consumables required in a modern dialysis center. The technical equipment available in the laboratory within the scope of its Key Features is listed below:
- Hemodialysis Machines: The main treatment units that take the patient’s blood and purify it of toxic substances such as urea and creatinine through a dialyzer (artificial kidney), while controlling the ultrafiltration (fluid removal) rate and dialysate flow.
- Dialysis Water Purification (Reverse Osmosis) Simulated Systems: Technical infrastructure used to examine the stages of obtaining purified water, which is critically important in the preparation of hemodialysis fluid, as well as filter and membrane structures.
- Vascular Access and Puncture Manikins: Simulated arm models on which safe needle access (puncture) techniques to arteriovenous fistula (AVF) and graft sites used in dialysis patients are practiced.
- Patient Monitoring and Monitoring Equipment: Monitoring screens that simulate the patient’s vital signs (blood pressure, pulse, ECG monitoring) throughout the treatment.
- Dialysis Consumables Set: Dialyzers (artificial kidney filters) with different surface areas, dialysis lines (blood sets), fistula needles, and acidic and basic dialysis concentrate solutions.
Research and Application Areas
The applied course curricula conducted within the laboratory cover all operational steps that a dialysis technician will need in the field:
- Preparation of the Hemodialysis Machine (Priming): Washing the dialysis lines and dialyzer with sterile saline solution to remove air bubbles and preparing the machine for connection to the patient.
- Vascular Access Management and Care: Sterilization of the arteriovenous fistula site, needle insertion at the correct angle, and dressing and care protocols for temporary/permanent dialysis catheters.
- Anticoagulation and Heparinization Procedures: Technical monitoring of heparin dosing used to prevent blood clotting in the dialysis lines during treatment.
- End-of-Treatment Processes (Termination): Safely returning the blood remaining in the lines to the patient’s body (reinfusion) after the dialysis period is completed and monitoring bleeding control/hemostasis following needle removal.
Contributions to Students and the Industry
The Dialysis Laboratory minimizes students’ device orientation periods in hospitals and dialysis centers after graduation and provides the industry with highly qualified personnel.
- Zero-Error and Sterility Discipline: Students learn by directly practicing infection control and strict hygiene rules, with an awareness of the responsibility involved in working in an area where direct intervention in the patient’s bloodstream takes place.
- Preparation for the Industry: Students who graduate with proficiency in the technological equipment and clinical workflows available in this laboratory can quickly become employed as Dialysis Technicians in public hospitals, university hospitals, private dialysis centers, and institutions providing home hemodialysis services.
