[Descriptive study of practices with patients in conservative care practices in a French district, the Normandy].

Abstract

INTRODUCTION\nRenal replacement therapy and renal transplantation can t be considered as the only way to treat old end-stage renal disease patients. Nowadays conservative management has to be considered and proposed as a treatment option to patients with a chronic kidney disease. The aim of this study was to describe nephrologists practices concerning conservative management care in a French department.\n\n\nMATERIAL AND METHOD\nA cross-sectional practices survey has been conducted in 2015. A survey was sent to 66\xa0nephrologists in 14\xa0treatment centers in the Normandy region.\n\n\nRESULTS\n49 of the 66\xa0nephrologists responded to the questionnaire. Among the 48\xa0nephrologists who responded to the questionnaire, 38 out of 48 (79.2%) did not use decision support tools to implement conservative treatment. In all, 42/48 (87.5%) nephrologists did not discuss with their colleagues before providing conservative treatment. Meeting dedicated to the decision of conservative treatment did not exist in any center surveyed in this study. When conservative management was chosen, 34/48\xa0nephrologists (70.8%) discussed end-of-life. And 31/48\xa0nephrologists (64.6%) used the term death .\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nThe results of this study show that the course of the patients in conservative treatment is heterogeneous and is not formalized. Improvements are needed to integrate conservative treatment for patients with chronic kidney disease.