Editing Kidney dialysis (section)

=== Scheduling and adherence ===
Dialysis is typically on a regular schedule of three times a week.

Given that dialysis patients have little or no capacity to filtrate solutes and regulate their fluid volume due to kidney dysfunction,<ref name="pmid19212421">{{cite journal |vauthors=Anderson AH, Cohen AJ, Kutner NG, Kopp JB, Kimmel PL, Muntner P |date=June 2009 |title=Missed dialysis sessions and hospitalization in hemodialysis patients after Hurricane Katrina |journal=Kidney International |volume=75 |issue=11 |pages=1202–1208 |doi=10.1038/ki.2009.5 |pmid=19212421 |doi-access=free}}</ref> missing dialysis is potentially lethal. These patients can be hyperkalaemic leading to [[Arrhythmia|cardiac dysrhythmias]] and potential [[cardiac arrest]],<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Hunter RW, Bailey MA |date=December 2019 |title=Hyperkalemia: pathophysiology, risk factors and consequences |journal=Nephrology, Dialysis, Transplantation |volume=34 |issue=Suppl 3 |pages=iii2–iii11 |doi=10.1093/ndt/gfz206 |pmc=6892421 |pmid=31800080}}</ref> as well as [[Pulmonary edema|fluid in the alveoli of their lungs]] which can impair breathing.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Campos I, Chan L, Zhang H, Deziel S, Vaughn C, Meyring-Wösten A, Kotanko P |date=2016 |title=Intradialytic Hypoxemia in Chronic Hemodialysis Patients |journal=Blood Purification |language=english |volume=41 |issue=1–3 |pages=177–187 |doi=10.1159/000441271 |pmc=6109968 |pmid=26765143}}</ref>

Some medications can be used in the short term to decrease serum potassium and stabilise the cardiac muscle so as to facilitate stabilisation of acute patients in the setting of missed dialysis. [[Salbutamol]] and [[insulin]] can decrease serum potassium by up to 1.0mmol/L each by shifting potassium from the extracellular space into the intracellular spaces within [[Skeletal muscle|skeletal muscle cells]], and [[calcium gluconate]] is used to stabilise the myocardium in hyperkalaemic patients, in an attempt to reduce the likelihood of lethal arrhythmias arising from a high serum potassium.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Ahee P, Crowe AV |date=May 2000 |title=The management of hyperkalaemia in the emergency department |journal=Journal of Accident & Emergency Medicine |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=188–191 |doi=10.1136/emj.17.3.188 |pmc=1725366 |pmid=10819381}}</ref>