Confidence in the Wake of Natural Disaster

On the morning of November 30, 2018, a 7.0 earthquake jolted Alaska, crumbling roads, closing schools, causing power outages and creating chaos. This natural disaster also left dialysis nurses in Anchorage worried for the safety and health of their patients -- particularly patients who perform their treatments at home. These individuals have end-stage renal disease and cannot go without dialysis for an extended amount of time.

Stacey Fuller, a charge nurse at Liberty & Denali Dialysis who was on-call following the earthquake, wondered -- “Was everyone okay? Did patients have electricity? Did they have the supplies necessary to successfully continue dialysis?”

It’s routine for the staff of Liberty & Denali Dialysis to account for their patients during emergency situations. On-call nurses try to reach people on the phone, and if that is not possible, the team makes house calls. But this time, after 24 hours of failed attempts to reach two patients, the nurses turned to Sharesource, Baxter’s two-way remote patient management platform, to see if the patients had performed home dialysis following the crisis.

Sure enough, Sharesource was tracking the patients’ treatments, confirming for staff that their patients were safe and had been able to perform therapy despite the challenges and disruptions caused by the earthquake’s devastation. 

“I had no idea the relief Sharesource would bring following a natural disaster,” said Julie Lee, R.N., Manager, Liberty & Denali Dialysis, Anchorage, Alaska. “This technology has proven to be invaluable. The visibility it provides -- not only on a daily basis, but also during a crisis situation – instills greater confidence in therapy delivery for our patients.”

Sharesource is the only two-way telehealth platform offered globally, and it allows healthcare professionals to remotely monitor and manage peritoneal dialysis sessions. Nurses can use the secure Sharesource platform to confirm that therapy has been completed and see other treatment information. The platform can also be used to change prescription settings without the patient needing to make an extra visit to the clinic.