Clinical research: making it work in the outpatient dialysis facility

Performing clinical research in the outpatient dialysis facility can be very challenging. Research protocols define time-specific and detailed procedures to be performed. In dialysis units where staff members are responsible for the delivery of life-sustaining therapy to an aging end stage renal disease patient population with multiple co-morbidities, these requirements can easily be considered too burdensome to be implemented successfully. In the authors'facility, clinical research has been successfully implemented with a close team approach supported by a dedicated research group and unit staff