[Review of the knowledge on acute kidney failure in the critical patient]

Acute renal failure affects from 1% to 25% of patients admitted to intensive care units. These figures vary depending on the population studied and criteria. The complications of acute renal failure (fluid overload, metabolic acidosis, hyperkalemia, bleeding) are treated. However, mortality remains high despite the technological advances of recent years because acute renal failure is usually associated with sepsis, respiratory failure, serious injury, surgical complications or consumption coagulopathy. Mortality ranges from 30% to 90%. Although there is no universally accepted definition, the RIFLE classification gives us an operational tool to define the degree of acute renal failure and to standardize the initiation of renal replacement techniques as well as to evaluate the results. Therefore, nurses working within the intensive care unit must be familiar with this disease, with its treatment (drug or alternative) and with the prevention of possible complications. Equally, they must be capable of detecting the manifestations of dependency each one of the basic needs and to be able to identify the collaboration problems in order to achieve an individualized care plan.