Renal Failure

Abstract

In the District General Hospital the epidemiology and natural histories of renal failure show similarities to those of respiratory failure (Chapter 2). The inexperienced doctor or nurse must appreciate that like respiratory failure, renal failure is ubiquitous and the more it is sought the more often will it be found. Depending on its severity and duration, renal failure may or may not require any special treatment; the same is true of respiratory failure; only a small percentage of patients either require or are likely to benefit from intensive care. In this field the functions of the ICU are twofold; (i) to investigate and treat patients with either acute or chronic renal failure. The investigatory aspect is important because some patients will need intensive therapy pending an accurate diagnosis. Experience throughout the world has shown that acute renal failure is best treated in an ICU because the special treatments are readily available and because other body systems may fail and such failure must be promptly recognized and energetically treated, (ii) Educational; to teach the prevention and early recognition of renal failure to junior doctors and qualified nurses.

What is man, when you come to think upon him, but a minutely set, ingenious machine for turning, with infinite artfulness, the red wine of Shiraz into urine. Isak Dinesen, in Seven Gothic Tales