Table 3.
Challenges to surgeon availability for access placement
| Challenges |
| Limited expertise related to inadequate exposure and training (11) |
| Limited operating room time |
| Conflicting responsibilities |
| Administrative |
| Renal transplant or other surgical proceduresa |
| Vascular access placement |
| Recurrent catheter troubleshooting after initial PD catheter placement |
| Coverage issues secondary to small surgical team (11) |
| Reimbursement not lucrative for the time invested in PD catheter placement (12) |
| Low volume of procedures, and hence inability to make it a niche |
PD, peritoneal dialysis.
a
At University of Alabama at Birmingham, PD catheters are placed by renal transplant surgeons.