The benefits of home dialysis

DaVita home dialysis allows you to dialyze in the comfort of your own home on your own schedule. It can also make you feel healthier and give you more energy for the things you love.

How it works

Just about anyone can do home dialysis as long as they have the desire to take an active role in their health care. Patients are trained by medical professionals to do dialysis treatments at home. Training is conducted at a dialysis center and takes from two to eight weeks, depending on which form of home dialysis patients choose.

Once they are trained, home dialysis patients are able to perform their dialysis treatments at home where they are most comfortable. Many home dialysis patients dialyze more frequently than in-center patients. The more frequent treatments get blood cleaner and leave patients feeling better.

There are two main types of home dialysis:

1. Peritoneal dialysis: Peritoneal dialysis uses the thin membrane, called the peritoneum, which lines the abdomen to perform dialysis treatments. A cleansing fluid is put into the patient's abdomen through a small, flexible tube called a PD catheter.
   
2. Home hemodialysis: Home hemodialysis uses a dialysis machine to clean the blood. The patient's blood flows from his or her vascular access through a dialysis machine to be cleansed of extra waste and fluids and sent back into the body.

What people are saying

“I am thankful for PD and the DaVita staff that made my transition to dialysis worry-free.” – Roman Foronda

“DaVita at Home’s team of nurses, dieticians and social workers have given me all the support I need and it has paid off—not once have I had an infection while working on my ranch or traveling the world. More than four years after starting home dialysis, I know that nothing is going to stop me from doing all the activities that I love, with the people I love.” – Emilio Tovar

“Dialysis isn’t pleasant, but finding a treatment that allows me to be me was a relief. If you’re in a bad situation, you have to do everything you can to make it better!” – Nicole Fasulka

“Now, I set my treatments around my life, not my life around my treatments. Thanks to DaVita, I now have my life back.” – Annette Davenport

DaVita and NxStage

DaVita is proud to offer NxStage as our preferred home hemodialysis technology system.

• Learn more about our collaboration with NxStage »
• Learn more about NxStage »