Staff working on Wellington Hospital’s Renal Ward recently celebrated their 500th kidney transplant operation since the ward opened in the new regional hospital building in 2009!
Lower Hutt resident Jazmin Torrance (left in photo above) was the recipient of the donated kidney, following eight challenging years of being impacted by kidney disease and five years of dialysis, with almost immediate improvements to her health.
“Just three days after my operation, once the pain had eased, I started feeling better on many levels,” she says. “I feel massively different – I’m eating well again, I sleep better, think more clearly and my energy levels have really improved. It’s been life-changing.”
Of her hospital experience, she says the renal staff have been “amazing”. “They’ve been with me every step of the way throughout my journey here. They treat you like a real person and I’m so appreciative of all the care, support and encouragement they gave me.”
Claire Beckett, Clinical Nurse Specialist in Wellington’s renal service (right in photo above) – who’s worked in renal for 20 years – says it’s very rewarding seeing the difference a kidney transplant makes for someone with serious renal disease.
“The best part of my role is talking to patients about what they’ve been able to achieve with a kidney transplant, which may have been more difficult or impossible while on dialysis,” she says. “To see people follow their dreams of having a family, travelling the world, completing a degree or taking their band on tour overseas is inspiring. The hope that a transplant gives them is what keeps me coming to work every day.”
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The 500th transplant operation coincided with the ward’s Renal Focus Month (team photo at right), held each year to provide education to nurses who care for patients with renal disease. This year’s focus was on helping nurses explain treatment plans to patients in a way that’s easy to understand.
“It’s important patients have a good grasp of what’s involved in their treatment and how it will help their disease. This can get quite clinical, so we need to make sure we’re communicating in a way that’s really clear and straightforward to avoid any confusion,” Claire says.
She says education is provided by way of presentations at handover, teaching sessions, bathroom posters and fun events (e.g. quizzes) with the aim of making things fun and “conversational, not lectury”.
“This means the sessions are popular with nurses who are always keen to keep learning and upskilling themselves on treating and caring for patients who are at the centre of everything we do.”
Facts and figures:
- The first person to receive a kidney transplant in Wellington was in 1968, with the first recipient in New Zealand two years before that in Auckland.
- 30 kidney transplants have been carried out so far this year at Wellington Hospital, which is a high number for transplants of this kind.
- 50% of donated kidneys come from deceased people. Of the 50% of living people who donate a kidney, they’re usually known to the person needing the transplant.
- To get a transplant, you need to meet certain criteria and have a number of different tests and assessments.
- If your assessment shows you’re medically fit to have a transplant, you go on a national waitlist for a kidney – if one comes available, it goes to the person best matched for that kidney. If there are several good matches, the person who’s been on the waitlist longest will receive it.
- You’re in hospital for about a week once you’ve had the transplant. Following that, you come back for weekly tests for the first few months, then continue to have monthly kidney function checks and more general tests (e.g. blood pressure).
- Following your transplant, you take immuno-suppressant drugs for the rest of your life to make sure your body doesn’t reject the kidney.
- While kidney transplantation is the gold standard treatment, it’s not an option for all people with kidney disease and the availability of kidneys is limited. With a successful transplant, a person can live a near normal life including travelling, working and studying. Other treatment options for serious kidney disease are haemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis.
