Veinot: Peer mentoring may help dialysis patients recover faster

Dialysis can be challenging for patients, leaving them exhausted and limiting their ability to return to daily life after a treatment. 

New research by University of Michigan School of School of Information professor Tiffany Veniot, an expert in health informatics, shows peer mentoring and patient education can help patients recover more quickly after dialysis sessions. 

Patients who participated in peer mentoring were 32% more likely to report recovering from dialysis the same day as their treatment compared to patients who did not receive mentoring.

“Dialysis is a demanding treatment,” she says. “One of the big complaints is how much dialysis takes away from patients’ ability to do things they enjoy, spend time with family, pursue hobbies, go to work. This is important for their quality of life and their ability to do things that matter to them.”

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Read “Peer mentoring linked to faster recovery after dialysis” at Healio. 

Tiffany Veinot is a Joan C Durrance Collegiate professor of information at UMSI, a professor of learning health science at the U-M Medical School and a professor of health behavior and health equity at U-M’s School of Public Health. Learn more about her by visiting her UMSI faculty profile.