Research Updates in Kidney and Urologic Health

New in CHID

Each quarter, the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse adds about 150 items to the kidney and urologic diseases subfile of the Combined Health Information Database (CHID). This database contains abstracts and ordering information for professional resources and patient education materials—such as books, pamphlets, videos, journal articles, and manuals—dealing with a variety of kidney and urologic topics. CHID Online can be accessed at chid.nih.gov on the Internet. Among recent additions to the subfile are materials on choosing health care providers, cooking for people with kidney failure, and exercising for people on dialysis.

How To Choose a Doctor and Hospital for Your Treatment Series: Female Urinary and Bowel Incontinence and Kidney Surgery

Urinary and bowel incontinence and kidney disease are complex medical conditions that can be treated successfully to improve a person's quality of life. Complex medical procedures and conditions require highly specialized, quality care. A patient seeking treatment must carefully consider the training and experience of a doctor or the services a hospital offers before selecting a health care team.

The Cleveland Clinic Foundation has produced a series of booklets to empower patients to make educated decisions when choosing a doctor and medical facility.

Two of these booklets—one on kidney surgery and one on female urinary and bowel incontinence—are now listed in CHID.

Female Urinary and Bowel Incontinence: How To Choose a Doctor and Hospital for Your Treatment and Kidney Surgery: How To Choose a Doctor and Hospital for Your Treatment are available free of charge from the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, 9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44195. Phone: 216–444–8919 (in Cleveland) or 1–800–545–7718 (toll-free outside Cleveland). Website: www.clevelandclinic.org/quality.

Cooking for David: A Culinary Dialysis Cookbook

Nearly 90,000 Americans started treatment for end-stage renal disease in 1999, joining the more than 300,000 already being treated. When kidney function fails, waste products build up in the body, causing damage to vital body organs and systems. Fortunately, dialysis helps compensate for lost kidney function. Proper diet is essential to maintaining the health of a dialysis patient. Sara Colman, R.D., C.D.E., and Dorothy Gordon, B.S., R.N., have produced Cooking for David: A Culinary Dialysis Cookbook to provide recipes for people who are on renal hemodialysis and must follow a strict diet. The authors discuss food selection, preparation, and portioning, as well as foods to limit or avoid. This cookbook is full of appealing recipes carefully crafted to be nutritionally correct for a dialysis diet.

Cooking for David: A Culinary Dialysis Cookbook can be ordered from www.culinarykidneycooks.com or Culinary Kidney Cooks, P.O. Box 468, Huntington Beach, CA 92648. The book costs $24, plus an additional $5 for postage and handling. Residents of California must add a 7.25 percent sales tax, or $1.74.

Exercise: A Guide for People on Dialysis

This publication, which was developed by the Life Options Rehabilitation Advisory Council, helps people on dialysis lead an active life and explains that learning to live a good life, despite kidney failure, is really what rehabilitation is. Exercise is one way to help people who have kidney failure get on their feet and be more active. Readers who are just beginning an exercise program will learn who can exercise, why they should exercise, and what kind of exercise is best for them. The book explains how to develop flexibility, muscular strength, and endurance. It also covers the importance of making an exercise plan so that exercise becomes a part of a person's life. A 30-minute video demonstrates the exercises discussed in the book. The video also features other dialysis patients discussing how beneficial exercising is for them. This guide is to be used under the supervision of dialysis center staff, and patients should talk with their physician before starting any exercise program.

Exercise: A Guide for People on Dialysis is available free of charge from the Rehabilitation Resource Center, 414 D'Onofrio Drive, Suite 200, Madison, WI 53719. Phone: 1–800–468–7777. Fax: 608–833–8366. Email: lifeoptions@MEIresearch.org. The book can be printed from a PDF file at www.lifeoptions.org on the Internet.

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