Teaching dialysis kinetics with a minicomputer.

The quantitative aspects of dialysis kinetics are poorly understood by the majority of nephrology fellows in training. For this reason, we have developed three teaching programs for use on the Apple II computer. The programs, based on the dialysis equations of Gotch et al. [1] and Gotch [2], allow the student to alter each of the dialysis variables independently, and to graphically display the resulting dialysis curves, so that the effects of changing variables can be visually compared. The three teaching programs describe intradialysis kinetics, dialysis kinetics during a single intradialytic and interdialytic period, and dialysis kinetics during a 2-week interval.