Patients' group experiences

In 11 years of experience with dialysis, we have tried to supply a kind of treatment in our center that takes the patient's physical, psychological, and social needs into account. We have been able to observe how important it is to share the common problems connected with a chronic illness in order to make them appear less dramatic. This led to the idea of organizing a group holiday in which the patients and their families would be able to spend some time together. As a result of this positive experience, we decided to organize group encounters in which all the problems could be freely discussed. The group is open to all the patients on dialysis or who have undergone transplants and their families. The group, which has been meeting once every 3 weeks for the last 2 years, is coordinated by a psychologist. This has proved to be important both for the operators, who have been able to expand their own knowledge, and for the patients and their families for whom these gatherings represent a way of helping themselves face up to and accept the limits imposed by chronic illness.