Published 2025-12-15
Keywords
- Renal failure; chronic kidney disease; hemodialysis; nursing care; symptom management; quality of life; psychosocial support; patient education; self-management; holistic care.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Background: Renal failure presents complex physical, psychological, and social challenges that significantly impair patients’ quality of life. Nursing care plays a central role in symptom management, education, psychosocial support, and coordination of multidisciplinary services to enhance well-being.
Methods: This narrative review synthesizes evidence presented in the report on nursing assessments, interventions, and models of care that enhance quality of life for adults with acute and chronic renal failure. Key domains examined include physical symptom management, psychosocial and spiritual support, self-management training, lifestyle interventions, and barriers and facilitators to quality-of-life–oriented nursing practice.
Results: Nursing interventions such as comprehensive symptom assessment, fluid and hemodynamic management, pruritus and pain control, infection prevention, individualized education, coping support, and structured self-management programs are shown to improve functional status, emotional well-being, treatment adherence, and patient satisfaction. Psychosocial counseling and spiritual care reduce anxiety and depression, while exercise and sleep-hygiene interventions enhance physical and psychological outcomes. Organizational support, multidisciplinary collaboration, and nephrology-specific training facilitate high-quality care, whereas limited resources, low health literacy, and high nurse workload pose persistent challenges.
Conclusions: Holistic, individualized, and continuous nursing care substantially improves quality of life in patients with renal failure. Integrating routine QoL assessments, strengthening patient education and self-management, and expanding specialized training and multidisciplinary support are essential to optimizing outcomes. Further research is needed to evaluate nursing-led interventions across diverse populations and care settings.