title: The European practice database (EPD): results of the study in thte North-East of Italy.
abstract: The survey, realized in 2002-03 in the North-East of Italy, describes renal care in dialysis services. A questionnaire, structured at European level, was sent to all dialysis centres by mail. The questionnaire was returned from 21 centres (61.8%) and related satellite units. Results show nonhomogeneity in renal care. Some important results were: low use of peritoneal dialysis (18%), compared to the rest of Europe, elevated presence of older people on haemodialysis, reduced percentage of patients on transplantation waiting list, diffused use of isolation for HCV positive patients, high use of AV fistulae (84%), low employment of renal technicians, absence of renal dieticians and social workers and nurses performing prevalently direct care. Data can be used for different goals: benchmarking activities, selection of deeper research topics and development of more oriented continuous education activities.
authors.affiliation: Padua University Hospital, Italy. zampieron@lycos.com
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zampieron
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Elseviers
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: De Vos
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Favaretto
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Geatti
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harrington
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004046:Dietetics / Q000458:organization & administration; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000458:organization & administration; D052756:Nutritional Sciences / Q000193:education; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000458:organization & administration; D010865:Pilot Projects; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017582:Renal Replacement Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012947:Social Work / Q000458:organization & administration; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014850:Waiting Lists