Mobile dialysis units, also known as mobile dialysis clinics, are mobile medical clinics that provide kidney dialysis treatments on-site. Mobile dialysis units come in four formats: dialysis bus, dialysis truck, van, or trailer.

A mobile dialysis unit is a low-cost option for providing dialysis services at off-site locations. This allows you to bring healthcare services to at-risk groups like veterans, care homes, and low-income communities. These units can also be utilized in a state or federal disaster response.

Standard layouts of a mobile dialysis unit includes an entry space, dialysis chairs and treatment stations, a nurse’s post, handicapped accessible restroom, patient lifter for wheelchairs or stretchers, a staff lounge, a janitor’s storage, and a staff bathroom are also included in mobile dialysis units.

To get a custom quotes on a mobile dialysis unit or free blue-print, call M&R Specialty Trailers and Trucks at 904-397-0246 or email us here. Click here to view our entire line of medical mobile units.

What Can You Do With A Mobile Dialysis Trailer?

Medical unit built by M&R Specialty Trailers and Trucks.

Most individuals will think of sophisticated surgery, potent medicine, or even life-saving immunizations when asked to specify a form of life-saving health services. Certain treatments, on the other hand, can save lives yet are frequently ignored. Consider the procedure of dialysis.

Dialysis is a means of artificially replicating the body’s natural cleansing process. The patient is hooked up to a dialyzer, which pumps their blood inside the equipment. The apparatus purifies the blood by passing it via a semipermeable membrane made up of hundreds of microscopic hollow synthetic fibers. The blood is filtered and restored to the patient’s system thanks to this membrane and a solution that extracts solutes and toxins from the blood as it travels through the dialyzer. Patients will often have to undergo a four-hour treatment once a week.

Basically, just like other mobile health facilities, mobile dialysis trailers offer most services you can often see in a typical dialysis clinic. Some of these services are the following.

  • Chronic Renal Failure (Kidney Disease) Clinic – An essential aspect of the nephrology service in general hospitals in the out-patient renal clinic (ORC). A large percentage of renal disorders are chronic, and patients must be monitored on a regular basis based on the degree and severity of their kidney failure. CRF, also known as chronic renal disease, is the most common clinical presentation (CKD). Early diagnosis seeks to slow the progression of renal disease and hence extend kidney function. Renal failure patients can be treated in the outpatient setting. The growing number of patients and variety of kidney illnesses necessitate coordination with other outpatient clinics.
  • Hemodialysis – Once your kidneys seem to be no longer normal enough to conduct this work, hemodialysis is used to filter wastes, minerals, and liquids off your blood. Hemodialysis is a treatment for chronic renal failure that can enable you to live a normal life despite your diminishing kidneys. Hemodialysis is a big duty, but you don’t have to take it on yourself. You’ll collaborate closely with your medical team, which will include a kidney specialist as well as other hemodialysis experts. Hemodialysis may be performed at home.
  • Peritoneal Dialysis – When your kidneys can no longer handle the task, peritoneal dialysis is used to eliminate waste products from your blood. Such a process filters the blood in a unique way than hemodialysis, which is a more prevalent kind of blood filtration. The purifying solution is injected into a section of your belly via a tube (catheter) during peritoneal dialysis. The peritoneum (the lining of your abdomen) filters your blood and eliminates waste items. The fluid containing the filtered waste items streams out of your tummy and is eliminated when a certain amount of time has passed.
  • Short-Term Dialysis – The length of your therapy will be determined by the reason for your visit. Dialysis may not be required long-term in some cases where the kidneys are just partially damaged, and you will only need to have this procedure for a short time. In cases when the kidneys are irreversibly damaged, however, treatment will be required over a longer period of time.
  • Nutritional Guidance – Nutrition is critical in hemodialysis to reduce complications and improve the quality of life for patients. The nutrition regimen for dialysis patients with chronic renal failure plays a significant role in the therapy process. The objectives of medical nutrition therapy in dialysis patients are to encourage nutrition to improve patients’ appetites, to correct systemic complications caused by nephron loss in progress, to lessen protein catabolism to the lowest possible level, to help alleviate or prevent the development of cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and peripheral vascular diseases, to prevent the development of fluid and electrolyte disorders, and to minimize uremic symptoms such like itching, dizziness, retching, and decreased appetite.

How Much Does It Cost To Build A Mobile Dialysis Trailer?

A mobile dialysis unit should be built to give high-quality dialysis to patients with kidney disease. Urgent renal hemodialysis care can be delivered successfully and efficiently to community individuals who are underserved.

Hemodialysis treatment for renal failure could be provided via mobile dialysis clinics with modern systems. These facilities should be able to perform the same tasks as traditional dialysis treatment centers. In order to function effectively, mobile dialysis clinics must meet or exceed all US standards for dialysis treatment facilities. Operating a mobile dialysis center allows you to use a dialysis clinic in a variety of ways and in a variety of locations. You are no longer bound to one spot with this operation. You may now bring the clinic to those that are underserved. This means that individuals in various remote regions can now receive vital kidney therapy.

There’s not much information about how much it would cost for a mobile dialysis facility build-out. However, you should consider the cost of the trailer as well as the equipment that would be installed inside your mobile dialysis clinic. Equipment costs like dialysis machines could cost around $7,000 to $9,000 while hemodialysis machines could cost up from $11,000 to $16,000. Other equipment though such as a dialyzer can be inexpensive with each costing only around $17. Catheters could cost you around $100 to $400.

Given these figures, we can assume that the mobile trailer itself along with its furnishings (chairs and tables) would cost you a lot more than the equipment you’ll need inside your mobile dialysis clinic.

What Equipment Can You Install On A Mobile Dialysis Trailer?

The equipment that you’ll install in your very own mobile dialysis clinic would most probably be the same equipment you have in your brick-and-mortar dialysis clinic. Some of this equipment is already mentioned above and here, we examine each and what their functions are.

Dialysis Machine

Dialysis is a process wherein a dialysis machine and a specialized filter are used to clean your blood using an artificial kidney or dialyzer. The equipment used in the operation is called a hemodialysis machine. The doctor must gain access to or enter your blood vessels to put your blood into the dialyzer. This is accomplished with a simple procedure, generally in the arm.

The dialysis apparatus mixes the solution and monitors it. Dialysate is a solution that aids in the removal of undesirable toxins from the blood. This also helps your body replace electrolytes and minerals. When it’s outside of your body, the device also measures your blood flow.

Dialyzer

Dialyzers, sometimes known as “simulated kidneys,” are devices that remove excess toxins and fluid from the bloodstream whenever the patient’s kidneys are unable to do so. Dialyzers filter blood and are made of a narrow, fibrous substance. Dialyzers are available in several different sizes. The volume of blood that passes through them is dependent on the patient’s height and build. A renal specialist will advise you on the dialyzer size that is best for you.

The fibers’ semipermeable barrier allows tiny particles and liquids to pass through. The dialyzer is contained in a sealed plastic cylinder about just a foot long and 2 to 3 inches in diameter, having holes at the top and bottom. During dialysis, the dialyzer filters the dialysis solution and your blood (but they never touch). One hole in the dialyzer takes new dialysate from the apparatus, while the other draws blood. These impurities in your blood are removed by dialysate. Waste-containing dialysate is flushed away, while healthy blood flows back to your system.

Dialyzer Reprocessing Machine

The procedure of a patient utilizing the very same dialyzer for repeated treatments is referred to as dialyzer reuse. Dialyzers are not merely reused but reprocessed as well. Disinfecting, inspecting, filling a dialyzer with a sterilant, checking, marking, collecting, and rinsing a dialyzer before it is reused for a patient’s subsequent treatment are all part of the reprocessing operation. After each use, the dialyzer will be properly reconditioned by qualified professionals. The dialyzer’s usage will be meticulously recorded. The dialyzer will then be safe for the patient to use again.

Hemodialysis Machine

Hemodialysis is a blood-cleaning treatment that involves using a dialysis machine and a particular filter known as an artificial kidney, or dialyzer. The physician will need to gain access to your blood vessels in order to have your blood into the dialyzer. This is usually accomplished with minor surgery on the arm.

Hemodialysis can be performed in a hospital, a non-hospital dialysis facility, or at home. Depending on the patient’s medical condition and wishes, the patient and the physician will decide which location is best. Hemodialysis is normally performed three times each week for roughly four hours at a time in a dialysis center. People who undergo hemodialysis at home may need to do it more regularly, 4-7 times each week for shorter periods of time each session.

CRRT Machine

A continuous renal replacement treatment machine is also known as a CRRT machine. Kidney failure is the most common reason for using a CRRT machine. Acute kidney injury often referred to as AKI, is a condition wherein the kidneys fail quickly and is mainly caused by infection or trauma. The kidneys cease to work during AKI, causing the body to fill with fluid and uremic poisons.

When the kidneys cannot filtrate adequate waste and water from the blood, a CRRT machine is required. Blood is gently filtered and cleaned using CRRT equipment. A particular intravenous (IV) catheter will be inserted into one of the patient’s major veins as part of this procedure (typically in the neck or groin). Blood is drawn from the body and sent to the CRRT machine via an IV. Before returning blood to the body, it is pumped through a filter that cleans it.

Peritoneal Dialysis Equipment

Peritoneal dialysis (PD) filters and cleans the blood by using the peritoneal membrane and dialysate fluid swaps. During the day, a patient can make their exchanges manually, or at nighttime, they can use a peritoneal dialysis machine, also known as a cycler. Continuous cycling peritoneal dialysis (CCPD) or automated peritoneal dialysis is the term for PD done using a machine (APD).

When a patient connects their peritoneal catheter to a PD cycler and is ready to start, the cycler will do the number of exchanges required in one session across an 8- to 10-hour period. Many patients prefer to cycle at night while sleeping so that they can have more time during the day.

Such units could be a more cost-effective way to administer dialysis to a larger number of people and places. During natural disasters, these units can be transported to care homes, jails, and emergency centers. Natural calamities such as earthquakes, tsunamis, fires, and flooding can completely destroy a community’s infrastructure. As a result, important healthcare treatments such as kidney dialysis are jeopardized. Mobile dialysis facilities are developed for emergency preparedness, providing quick access to fully functional dialysis services.