Blood Purification Centre

The Blood Purification Center was established in 1975 and was the earliest center in Heilongjiang Province to carry out blood purification technology; at that time, it was led by Director Wang Shujie and had only 1 hemodialysis machine. After more than 40 years of development, it has now become one of the standardized blood purification centers with a leading technical level in the Heilongjiang region. The center completed its department expansion in 2013, providing a better environment for medical visits and treatment. It now has more than 200 outpatient dialysis patients, 52 hemodialysis machines, 4 hemodiafiltration machines, and 2 CRRT machines, including Fresenius, Gambro, and Nikkiso hemodialysis machines, Gambro PrismaFlex and Fresenius mulFiltrate continuous blood purification devices, etc.; moreover, its water treatment uses a dual-stage reverse-osmosis water-treatment system and whole-process thermal disinfection technology, improving the quality of dialysis water and providing favorable conditions for patients’ survival and quality of life.

The center has strong technical capabilities and has already developed multiple blood purification technologies: hemodialysis, high-flux dialysis, hemodiafiltration, isolated ultrafiltration, SLED, hemoperfusion, plasma exchange, CRRT, etc. Blood purification technology is not only one of the main replacement therapies for acute and chronic renal failure, but also has good efficacy in treating poisoning caused by toxic substances, refractory congestive heart failure and acute pulmonary edema, refractory ascites due to cirrhosis, hyperkalemia caused by various reasons, etc.

In terms of staffing: there are 5 doctors, including 4 with doctoral degrees and 1 with a master’s degree. There are 20 nurses, including 2 deputy chief nurses, 15 charge nurses, 2 professional nurses, and 1 staff nurse. There are 2 technicians.

In terms of medical technology: the center routinely performs arteriovenous fistula creation, placement of central venous catheters with cuff and without cuff, artificial vascular graft transplantation, and balloon dilation of arteriovenous fistulas. The center was the first in China to carry out continuous slow low-efficiency hemodialysis for nephrogenic ascites; slow continuous isolated ultrafiltration has been used to treat severe edema and severe congestive heart failure, with very good efficacy; it was the first in the province to carry out ultrasound-guided placement of uncuffed central venous catheters, with a puncture success rate of 100%. Difficult vessels and arteriovenous fistula dysfunction can be effectively managed. The center performs day surgery, providing convenience for patients with arteriovenous fistula problems, and Dr. Zhang Chengwei has extensive experience in establishing vascular access and is at a leading level in the province.

In terms of nursing services, under the leadership of head nurse Jiao Jianmei, the center has always adhered to the principle of “Everything for the patients” and provided patients with high-quality nursing services. Because an arteriovenous fistula is the patient’s lifeline, the puncture skills of hemodialysis-unit nurses are particularly important. The center has nurses who have been engaged in nursing for more than 20 years and have extensive puncture experience; difficult vessels can be punctured under ultrasound guidance. There are also dedicated vascular access and patient education teams to assess patients’ vessels, answer dialysis-related questions, protect patients’ lifelines, and strive to extend patients’ lives as much as possible and improve their quality of life.

In terms of scientific research, Director Zhang Rui, as the academic discipline leader, combines many years of clinical ward experience with new ideas to lead department staff in making progress and developing together. There have been new improvements and breakthroughs in new technologies, department management, and other areas.

In addition, our center is an institution for further study by relevant personnel from hemodialysis departments in Heilongjiang Province and is a training base for specialized nurses in blood purification in Heilongjiang Province, better promoting joint learning and development of blood purification technology in the region. Department staff also frequently travel outside the center for study and participate in conferences and exchanges, continuously improving their professional level. The purpose is to provide patients with a better treatment environment, conditions, and services; going forward, the center will continue to improve and build a civilized department with a good medical environment and excellent medical and nursing technology.