Sobrecarga del cuidador primario de pacientes en programa de hemodiálisis generada por el reingreso hospitalario

Introduction

Concurrently to the changes undergone by patients with hemodyalisis, there is also an issue focused on the figure who will bear the responsibility of taking care of the needs of the patient.

Main goal

Identifying work overload in primary caregivers of chronic hemodyalisis patients during hospital readmissions.

Material and methods

Prospective and cross-sectional study conducted between December 26th 2012 and May 25th 2013. Gender, age, type, number of readmissions and length of hospital stay were identified. Zarit scale was used for assessment, under an informed consent.

Results

A total of 15 patients were included, 8 of whom where male (53%) and 7 female (47&), with an average age of 54.3 (range: 44 to 76). Main cause of chronic renal failure was type 2 diabetes mellitus, with an average stay in hemodyalisis of 23.3 months (range: 8 to 22). Primary caregivers where the spouse in 4 cases (27% - 4 females), children in 9 cases (60% [7 female and 2 male]) and siblings in 2 cases (13%, 2 females), with an average age of 36 (range: 20-60), 87% female and 13% male. There were 126 hospitalizations and 24 readmissions (19%), with a cumulative hospital stay of 350 days, averaging 23.3 (range: 8 to 62). Zarit scale showed a work overload in 60% of the cases, 67% of which showed intense overload and 33% overload. Most affected items were 2, 3, 7 and 8 followed by 13, 17 and 22.

Conclusions

Primary caregiver of patients in hemodyalisis presents an important overload that contributes to worsen their quality of life.