The nephrology professional medical team from St. Mary's Hospital Luodong has stationed in Nanao Township, setting up a hemodialysis center (16 dialysis beds). There are two shifts (morning and afternoon) on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (7:30 am - 5:30 pm), providing professional, convenient, and timely medical services to kidney patients in Nanao Township and northern Hualien
Due to its remote mountainous location, inconvenient transportation, and sparse, scattered population, Nanao Township in Yilan County generally lacks medical resources. Based on the spirit of the priests of the Order of St. Camillus, who uphold the Gospel's message of 'caring for the least of our brothers', and their goal of being steadfast guardians of the health of disadvantaged groups, St. Mary's Hospital Luodong established an outpatient dialysis center in Nanao Township in 2023. This aims to improve the accessibility and quality of medical services for the local residents and ensure people's healthcare rights in remote areas.
Our hemodialysis team's core philosophy: service, education, and culture
Enhancing quality
Goal: Continuously improve dialysis medical quality based on kidney disease certification standards.
Positioning: Establish a multidisciplinary kidney care team and hold regular cross-team care meetings to enhance medical quality and patient safety.
Creating value
Goal: Become the leading hospital for kidney disease treatment in the Lanyang area.
Positioning: As a high-quality hospital practicing value-based medicine, we combine perceived patient value with medical practice. Implementing "Choosing Wisely" by developing and optimizing the kidney disease care information system.
Health education and promotion
Goal: Improve dialysis patients' self-care knowledge and skills.
Positioning: Utilize the St. Mary's Dialysis official website and Line@ to provide multifaceted care (nutrition, medication, rehabilitation, social work) for kidney patients. Organize kidney disease health literacy activities to promote a healthy lifestyle.
Service Status of Nanao Township Dialysis Center:
Hemodialysis: Approximately 24 sessions per month, totaling around 2,283 sessions as of September 30, 2024.
Assistance with Food Bank Supplies for Needy Kidney Patients: 4 patients, 20 instances.
Reduction in Travel Time for Each Nanao Kidney Patient: 26 hours per month, 312 hours per year.
Assistance for hemodialysis patients affected by natural disasters: 3 patients, 39 instances per month.
Proportion of hemodialysis patients undergoing Shared Decision Making (SDM): 100%.
Number of peritoneal dialysis vs. hemodialysis patients: 2 vs. 25 (9.2%).
Medical quality monitoring goals of Nanao Township Dialysis Center:
Enhance professional service quality to reduce complications, hospitalization rates, mortality rates, and peritonitis incidence in chronic kidney failure patients.
Improve the self-care abilities of hemodialysis patients to prevent disease progression and promote health.
Encourage effective kidney disease management through telemedicine quality monitoring, outpatient dialysis clinic guidance, and incentive mechanisms to continuously improve medical and service quality.
In 2024, a satisfaction survey was conducted among dialysis patients or their families at the Nanao Township Dialysis Center. The Public Relations Office staff distributed and assisted with completing the questionnaires. A total of 22 questionnaires were distributed and all 22 were returned, achieving a 100% response rate. With this high response rate, the overall satisfaction exceeded 98%. The satisfaction scores were ranked as follows: physician performance, environmental facilities, and nursing staff performance. The overall performance satisfaction reached as high as 98.6%.
The proportion of hemodialysis patients at the Nanao Dialysis Center who have undergone Shared Decision Making (SDM) for choosing between peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis is 100%.
The only rural dialysis center in Taiwan.
An academically excellent dialysis center in the Lanyang area: Since 2006, our team has published over 100 papers in SCI journals. Our research achievements in 'heart rate variability in dialysis patients' are outstanding, with a total of 6 papers published. This makes us likely the team with the most publications in this field. As a result, we were invited to present at the Taiwan Society of Nephrology Spring Conference and the Department of Nephrology at National Taiwan University Hospital in 2023.
The infection rate of double-lumen venous catheters in hemodialysis patients is 0.84‰.
In the year 2024, the incidence rate of peritonitis in peritoneal dialysis patients was 1 case per 373.8 patient-months, which equals 0.27 per 100 patient-months. The rate of peritoneal dialysis catheters exit site infection was 0 cases per 373.8 patient-months, which equals 0.
