10/23+ NW16 W WA Kidney Support Group

The Road Back to Life is a nonprofit organization that provides mentoring to dialysis patients, patient support groups, and award-winning CKD classes.  They offer patient support groups in Lynnwood WA on October 23, November 27, and December 25, 2018, and in both Monroe and Mountlake Terrace WA on November 13 and December 11.  They also provide November 8, December 6, and December 13, 2018 courses on HOPE (or Healthy Options) in Mountlake Terrace, and a six-part course November 7-December 19 on Survive and Thrive with CKD in Lynnwood WA.  For details see https://www.kidneysupportgroup.com/calendar/.  For more information on The Road Back to Life see https://www.kidneysupportgroup.com/.

10/22+ Laugh Will and Testament Webinar

DPC’s next Educational Call is an October 22, 2018 webinar called Laugh Will and Testament: Using Humor to Contemplate Mortality and Enjoy Life.  See the poster below and http://www.dpcedcenter.org/education-seminars for details.  RSVP at http://www.dpcedcenter.org/education-call-rsvp to get a reminder.

The DPC Education Center is a treasure trove of information on kidney disease; find it at http://www.dpcedcenter.org/.  Mark your calendar for future Educational Calls on November 15 and December 13, and 2019 Calls on January 24, February 28, March 28, April 25, May 23, June 27, July 25, August 22, September 26, October 24, November 28, and December 26.

Relationship-Centered Care

The Kansas City Network has added two new one-page healthcare communication tools to their Heartland Huddle: Huddle Up to Improve Communication series.  The new entries are on Relationship-Centered Care, which focuses on the patient, but emphasizes the importance of mutual relationships between the care team, the patient, their family, the dialysis organization, and the community.  Earlier tools in the series include Active Listening, Body Language, Emotional Awareness, Respect, Shared Decision Making, and Coaching.  Find the entire series at http://heartlandkidney.org/providers/quality-improvement/qi-resources/heartland-huddle/.

Appreciating Your NCTs and NBTs

NANT has published a list of 25 Ways to Celebrate National Dialysis Technician Recognition Week 2018 – which is this week, October 14-20, 2018. Find a copy of the list at https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/nwrn.org/files/N/NANT/Show_appreciation_NRW_2018.pdf.

10/14+ National Dialysis Technician Recognition Week

NANT has announced that October 14-20 is National Dialysis Technician Recognition Week.  For details see https://associationdatabase.com/aws/NANT/ebulletin/view_mail/133788/1860414.  AAKP  featured dialysis technicians in last week’s HealthLine webinar on Making the Perfect Team: Working with Your Dialysis Technician; see https://www.gotostage.com/channel/6927452477730326277/recording/fbdbf54d96084efc86b7e3a6b03f9993/watch.

NANT, the National Association of Nephrology Technicians/Technologists, has chosen the terms:

• Nephrology Clinical Technician or NCT to describe technicians that deal directly with patients
• Nephrology Biomedical Technologists or NBT to refer to technologists that work with dialysis equipment

This new terminology distinguishes healthcare staff previously referred to as Patient Care Technicians, and acknowledges the biomedical engineers who  keep the dialysis unit operating.  Earlier titles – Patient Care Technician, PCT, Dialysis Technician, or simply Technician – do not acknowledge the specific field (nephrology), discipline (clinical and/or biomedical) and function (technician or technologist) of these members of the care team.

For more information on NANT, see http://dialysistech.net/.  The 2019 NANT Annual Symposium, Dialysis Tech Connexion 2019 or DTX19, will be held in Las Vegas 19-22 March, 2019; find details at http://dialysistech.net/2019-annual-symposium.

10/18+ EQRS 2.0 Training, CW Newsletter

CROWNWeb will present an October 18, 2018 training course on EQRS 2.0, and repeat the same course on October 19.  Find more information and register at http://mycrownweb.org/education_/training-calendar/, and find more information about the new features of EQRS 2.0 on pp.17ff of http://mycrownweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/June_Town_Hall_508_Compliant.pdf.

The CROWNWeb October Newsletter can be found at http://mycrownweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/October_2018-Newsletter_508.pdf.  This issue contains articles on the design process for EQRS 2.0, a reminder to keep your facility contact information current in CROWNWeb because it is used in emergencies like hurricanes, ICD-10 code updates, upcoming deadlines, and announcement of an October 25, 2018 CROWNWeb Town Hall meeting.

10/30 NW16 PKG Support Group

The Portland Kidney Group invites patients and care partners to their October 30, 2018 Support Group Meeting in Milwaukie OR.  Topics of discussion will include treatment options and holiday coping strategies.  Kidney-friendly refreshments will be provided, but RSVP is requested.  For details see https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/nwrn.org/files/N/PKG/PKG1018.pdf.