The chronic kidney disease patient in the acute hospital environment

CKD is common, affecting more than 10% of the adult US population. Hospital admissions are common among these patients and present challenges for their caregivers. In the acute hospital setting, there is often a lack of awareness of the CKD patient and the best practices developed to help this population. This can place the CKD patient at risk for medication errors such as incorrect dosage or administration of a potentially harmful or unhelpful medication. CKD patients may need procedures during a hospital stay that increase their risk of adverse events. Also, common admission practices such as placing intravenous access needs to be thoughtfully considered in this population.