Acute kidney injury

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is associated with significantly increased rates of hospital readmission, dialysis initiation, and death. AKI is also a primary risk factor in the development and progression of chronic kidney disease leading to end-stage renal disease. The occurrence of AKI is increasing in both community and hospital settings where in the latter setting, AKI may be especially severe. In the AKI ePredict project, researchers are working on the ability to identify hospitalized patients admitted to Geisinger at high risk for severe AKI prior to it developing by using advanced computational techniques together with a clinical program and new bioinformatic tools for directing targeted medical care towards those at risk of AKI or who have developed AKI in the effort to improve patient care and reduce complications. 

AKI ePrediction Project

A research team led by Kevin Ho, Sara Saunders, Les Kirchner, Andres Garcia-Arce, and Becky Stametz is funded by Quality Fund award from the Geisinger Health Plan to develop and implement over 2-3 years a novel mechanism to improve the care of all patients at risk for and/or developing acute kidney injury (AKI), a major cause of mortality, when admitted to Geisinger Medical Center. The initiative consists of an integrated dashboard and registry informed by real-time predictive algorithms to identify patients, starting from the time of hospital admission, at risk of developing severe AKI prior to the event.

Continuing after hospital discharge, patients with AKI will receive focused care and education in a new clinical pathway as part of the project being developed by Camila Bermudez and Jamie Green to reduce hospital readmission, mortality, and healthcare costs.