Why do we need data management systems in the dialysis sector?
Growing economic pressure, the introduction and ever increasing significance of quality assurance measures in the field of dialysis, constantly expanding data volumes, changes in the way people work and mounting administration costs. All these factors speak in favour of using data management systems in the fields of dialysis and nephrology.

How does data management work in the field of dialysis?
In dialysis centres, a large volume of different data is generated prior to and during the treatment of a patient. These data are generally collected manually and stored in a central patient record. The collection and analysis of these data produces information that can be used for the treatment of patients in the form of a printout, e.g. a dialysis specification.

During treatment, nursing staff document data from the dialysis machine on paper printouts, such as the results of blood pressure measurements.

The documentation of case histories, diagnoses and laboratory parameters are also frequently still entered manually in a patient's records.

This is where data management can be usefully applied in the field of dialysis. The aim is to record all data electronically in a single system and make the prepared data available to the respective users. During treatment, the networked dialysis machines send a continuous data stream to the data management system. These data are then available for patient monitoring during treatment, as well as for documentation in the electronic patient record. The connected dialysis machines can also receive patient-specific data, such as treatment parameters (ultrafiltration rate, treatment time, etc.), which can be used for the current treatment,  the system supports bidirectional data exchange.

Ideally, a data management system should be able to evaluate data, e.g. in the form of reports, archive it usefully, and have a standardised interface, such as HL7 (Health-Level 7), which enables the exchange of data with other IT systems, e.g. hospital information systems.

Data management systems therefore enable the automation of labour and time-intensive tasks, which ultimately allows doctors and nursing staff more time to dedicate to the individual treatment of patients. Furthermore, they are a valuable aid for the evaluation of collected data, thus helping the continued optimisation of dialysis treatments.