The Future of Care: Education, Professionalism & Model

This is the final part of our 3 part series on Being at the Forefront of Innovative Dialysis.

On Education and Professionalism?

Alice’s enthusiasm for the certified nursing profession and advancing education has been a strong force behind Dialyze Direct’s successful model. Having nurses that specialize in dialysis/renal care is a key component of providing quality care. A lifelong learner herself, Alice recently received her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) from Quinnipiac University- the highest degree for nursing. “Education is a critical component in everything we do. I believed that if I could learn and enhance my skills to educate patients and staff, the quality of patient care would increase.”?

"I hope I can set an example for other nurses to know that they can aspire and do more..." said Alice

She adds, “I hope I can set an example for other nurses to know that they can aspire and do more. I want nurses to see what can be accomplished, I hope that motivates them to do the same. For me, it’s about improving the quality of our "nursing" profession.”?

As a direct extension of this philosophy, Dialyze Direct supports professional membership organizations. This brings insight from outside the scope of current practices and allows the company to glean the information necessary to stay ahead of the curve.?

Says Alice, “I was always encouraged to join national professional nursing organizations to network and gain insight from other skilled nurses around the country. That prevented me from living in a bubble and allowed me to remain open to new and different aspects of patient care. That also led to achieving the national president position of the American Nephrology Nurses Association one of the highlights of my career.”?

A Model for the Future of Healthcare?

The success of Dialyze Direct’s collaborative efforts is one Alice hopes to see carry over to more areas of healthcare. “I don’t think it happens as often as it could,” she says. “We’re publishing what we’re doing to make our journey accessible to other health entities who care to utilize our processes. It’s only going to move the healthcare needle forward, a North Star approach. We could leave this up to the patient to pull together, but we are the professionals. Disjointed patient care is neither efficient nor excellent.”?

Dialyze Direct continues to advance its mission to bring innovative dialysis treatment to SNFs across the US. To this end, it’s hard to tackle misconceptions about dialysis care for SNF patients and change mindsets even at large agencies such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. As a result, there has been an expansion of government reimbursement for its services. Dialyze Direct is now in 13 states and growing and has performed more than 1 million treatments. And each one of these patients receives excellence in treatment with dignity and respect, improving their quality of life.

As Alice explains, this commitment to excellent patient care is vital: “That’s why the caliber of care we are accomplishing at Dialyze Direct is so necessary and important. The value we create doesn’t just touch the individual patient, it touches the family, and it touches the caregivers. I understand the dialysis population. It’s aging. We’re all going to be there, and I want to treat people from a care perspective, from an emotional standpoint, from a family outlook, the way I would like to be treated. We don’t have the time to wait for someone else to do it first.”?

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