Lived Experiences of Kidney Transplant Patients at Selected Referral Hospital in Rwanda

Abstract

Background: A kidney transplant is the greatest treatment option for people with end-stage renal disease, but in addition to a higher quality of life, there are additional problems that could interfere with everyday activities because a kidney transplant necessitates ongoing contact with medical facilities. A kidney transplant patient will also need to alter their daily routines and engage in activities like self-checking, medication compliance, good hygiene, and drinking enough fluids. It was preferable to hear directly from the patients in order to better understand their experiences and get their opinions on medical care, wellbeing, and life adaptation following transplantation.

The study's aim: This study ‘s aim was to explore the actual experiences of kidney transplant recipients at a selected referral hospital in Rwanda.

Methodology: In this research, the experiences of kidney transplant recipients were explored. The phenomenology exploratory qualitative design was used to investigate the kidney transplant patients ‘experiences. To select and interviewing respondents undergone kidney transplantation, the Purposive sampling was used. The collection of data was done by using semi-structured interview guide and the content analysis method was used to analyze the data by the examination of narrative information to adequately represent every part of each piece of content, data has been arranged, coded and categorized to describe all aspect of each content and identify key themes. Results: from the transcripts analysis, five major themes were emerged “Improved quality of life”, “Emotional challenge”, “Medical management”, “Healthcare system challenge” and “Cross cultural challenge”.

Conclusion: The kidney transplant patients face many challenges, and the management of medication is one among the main stressors along with the financial challenges and monthly hospital visits. The healthcare system should try to provide appropriate support for the kidney transplant patients for them to maintain the survival of the allograft for a longer period.