Nursing Interventions: Kidney Transplant

1. Prepare the patient for transplantation and a prolonged recovery period and offer him ongoing emotional support.
2. Encourage the patient to express his feelings.
3. Describe routine preoperative measures, such as thorough physical examination and a battery of laboratory tests to detect any infection.
4. Tell the patient the he’ll undergo dialysis the day before surgery to clean his blood of unwanted fluid and electrolytes.
5. Teach the patient the proper methods for performing coughing, turning, deep breathing and, if ordered incentive spirometry.
6. Administer blood transfusions as ordered.
7. Ensure the patient or a responsible family member has signed a consent form consenting to a transplantation.
8. Throughout the recovery period, watch for signs and symptoms of tissue rejection.
9. Assess the patient for pain and provide analgesics as ordered.
10. Carefully monitor urine output.
11. Connect the patient’s indwelling catheter to a closed drainage urinary catheter to a closed drainage system to prevent overextension of the bladder.
12. Review daily results of renal function test.
13. Stress strict compliance with all prescribed medication regimens.