The FDA has recommended discontinued use of GenStrip Glucose Strips made by Shasta Technologies, because the company is not cooperating with FDA quality control rules. For details see http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Safety/AlertsandNotices/ucm395180.htm.
Northwest Renal Network’s monthly patient flyer is now posted on our website at http://www.nwrenalnetwork.org/P/M/Monthly.htm. The featured topic for April is Depression. These flyers are designed for posting in the facility waiting area, and for distribution to patients and family members. Contact the Network Patient Services Director Lisa Hall (lhall@nw16.esrd.net) if you have questions or ideas for future monthly topics.
The 2014 Pierce County High Risk Population Disaster Planning Summit will be held June 18, 2014 in Tacoma, Washington. The free Summit is open to “any individual, agency, organization or business that is interested in disaster planning for vulnerable populations.” Continental breakfast and lunch are provided. Find a poster at http://www.nwrenalnetwork.org/N/PierceCoDisaster2014.pdf.
The Network will hold it’s Annual Provider Meeting October 2-3, 2014 near the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Save the dates! There’s a poster at http://www.nwrenalnetwork.org/N/NetworkMtg2014.pdf to remind everyone.
The Renal Physicians Association has released a free iPad app to assist nephrologists
with shared decision-making (SDM), and pain and symptom management for acute kidney injury, CKD, and ESRD patients, at the point of care. The SDM Toolkit app is an interactive version of the RPA’s Clinical Practice Guideline on Shared Decision Making in the Appropriate Initiation of and Withdrawal from Dialysis, 2nd Edition.
The app offers tools and recommendations that help nephrologists aid adult and pediatric kidney patients in decisions about initiating, withholding, and withdrawing from dialysis. It combines the benefits of the evidence-based guideline (consensus expert opinion informed by ethical principles, case and statutory law, and systematic review of research evidence) with a step-by-step approach to working through the process of decision making and symptom assessment with the patient and family in real time.
The iPad app can be downloaded free at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id843971920?mt=8, and the full Clinical Practice Guidelines on SDM can be found at http://www.renalmd.org/catalogue-item.aspx?id=682.
HHS has recently announced two tools to help facilities comply with HIPAA rules.
CDC has announced the results of a major new study on sepsis, and a new web page on Sepsis Questions and Answers. For the CDC announcement, see http://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USCDC/bulletins/aea622. Find the Questions and Answers, and further links, at http://www.cdc.gov/hai/patientSafety/sepsis.html.
NKF will sponsor the 2014 Billings Kidney Walk on June 29, 2014. For details find a fact sheet at http://www.nwrenalnetwork.org/N/Billings2014Facts.pdf and a poster at http://www.nwrenalnetwork.org/N/Billings2014Poster.pdf.
UNOS requests public comment prior to June 13, 2014 on seventeen proposed changes to transplant procedures, many of which impact kidney patients. For details and commenting instructions, see http://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/policiesAndBylaws/publicComment/proposals.asp.
The Portland Kidney Group will sponsor a Kidney Speak Out support group meeting from 2 till 3:30 pm PDT on May 18, 2014 in Room 1077 of the main hospital at Legacy Emanuel.
And mark your calendar for the Hawaiian-themed PKG/NKF Summer Picnic and Pot Luck on August 24 at Portland’s Peninsula Park.
