Counseling

Medical social work at Diapriva
If you have a kidney disease, and must undergo dialysis treatment to deal with the disorder, you can also experience problems in your personal life, in addition to your physical complaints. These problems can be psychological, relational, social or societal in nature and can be a source of stress. The medical social work at Diapriva focuses on reducing these sources of stress and increasing sources of strength.

Working method
Each new patient at Diapriva has a meeting with a medical social worker. During this meeting you get to know the medical social worker better. During the meeting the medical social worker also provides you information and an explanation of the services on offer and the working methods of the medical social work at Diapriva. The basic principle during the meeting with the medical social worker is that the conversations focus on maintaining (and if possible increasing) your independence, during which your personal need(s) are taken into account wherever possible. If desirable (and possible), we will involve the people around you in the provision of assistance.

Psychosocial help and practical/material assistance
The assistance – and the services provided by the medical social workers – can be divided into psychosocial assistance and practical/materiel assistance and consists (among other things) of:

  • Counselling in processing and accepting your kidney disease and the resulting changes to your daily life;
  • Support when processing bad news;
  • Coaching in learning to deal with the various emotions that your kidney disease/treatment can trigger in you;
  • Providing information, advice and if required mediation in the practical consequences of your kidney disease/treatment;
  • Helping you come into contact with various agencies.

Examples of questions for which you can turn to Diapriva’s department of medical social work are:

  • How do I deal with the feelings that my disease/treatment trigger in me (for example: disbelief, dependence, fear or uncertainty)?
  • How do I fit the dialysis treatment into my life?
  • What arrangements and facilities can I make use of?
  • Who can I turn to if my problems require a more specialist approach?

Privacy
The medical social worker is bound by a duty of confidentiality.

Contact
You can contact the Diapriva’s department of medical social work through the doctor or nurse, or by calling Diapriva’s general telephone number.


Dietetics
Nutrition is important to everyone, providing energy and nutrients and contributing to your physical fitness. Nutrition is of added importance during a dialysis treatment, because you require extra nutrients or because eating more moderate portions is better for you. Diapriva has a dietician who can counsel you and who you of course can contact with your questions or for information relating to diet during haemodialysis.

Advice and tips
The dietician at Diapriva is an expert in the area of nutrition and kidney diseases. The treatment offered by the dietician focuses on nutrition, but recent laboratory values, and medication use, are also looked in order to offer you advice that is as effective and comprehensive as possible. Some people think that the dietician will tell you there are all kinds of things you cannot consume, but nothing is further from the truth! During meetings the dietician will look at options that fit into your diet and the dietician can help you make the right choices. Everyone has different wishes and needs, and for this reason the dietician looks at what a suitable eating pattern is for each individual.

Nutritional status
An important part of the nutritional treatment is that the dietician looks at your nutritional status. The dialysis treatment and medicine use can make you to feel less fit and to experience complaints such as nausea, which in turn affects your appetite. As a result, you might eat less than you require, which can lead to a deficiency in nutrients. This in turn leads to deterioration in your physical condition and a breakdown in muscle mass. Together with you the dietician will regularly look at your nutritional status and agree treatment goals with you to ensure that your muscle mass and physical condition remain at the best possible level.

Contact
Soon after you start dialysis treatment at Diapriva the dietician will pay you a visit. If you have questions, you can contact the dietician by telephone on +31(0)20-301 1950 or by e-mail at dietetiek@diapriva.eu.

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