4/4+ AAKP HealthLine on Pediatric Dialysis

AAKP’s HealthLine is hosting a series of three webinars on Pediatric Kidney Patients:

• The first in the series, What to Expect When Your Child Starts Dialysis, has been recorded, and can be found at https://www.gotostage.com/channel/6927452477730326277/recording/6a7d78ef17dc44a2afb9be805033b205/watch?source=CHANNEL.

• The second webinar, Tips for Parents and Other Care Partners on How to Support your Pediatric Kidney Transplant Patient, will be held April 4, 2019.  Register at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8501074658969210381.

• The third and final webinar will be held April 17, 2019 on Growing Up as a Kidney Patient: Transitioning from Pediatric Care to Adult Care.  Register for this one at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8540017161802055693.

You can find a catalog of recordings of all past HealthLine webinars at https://www.gotostage.com/channel/6927452477730326277, and a general introduction to the HealthLine program at https://aakp.org/aakp-healthline/.

April – Nat’l Donate Life Month

April is National Donate Life Month.  Find more information and tools at https://donatelifecalifornia.org/donatelifemonth/ and https://www.donatelife.net/ndlm/.  You can also find a long list of Oregon activities at https://www.donatelifenw.org/news-and-events/calendar and https://www.tabortrot.com/.  Organ donation is celebrated on Blue & Green Day, April 12, 2019; for information and tools see https://www.donatelife.net/blue-green-day/ and https://donatelifecalifornia.org/bluegreenday/.

Why would you want to donate a kidney?  Maybe because of 100,000 stories like this one: http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/26047187/i-need-kidney-nfl-pass-rusher-dialysis-year.

NW16 5/16+ CNSW Educational Conference

The CNSW Northwest Chapter will hold their Spring 2019 Educational Conference in Issaquah WA May 16-17, 2019.  Topics include self care, low mood, depression, rage, despair, suicide, and involuntary discharge.  Find Conference details and registration by check at https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/nwrn.org/files/CNSW/CNSW0519.Brochure.pdf, and registration by credit card at https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/nwrn.org/files/CNSW/CNSW0519.Register.pdf.  Registration must be postmarked by May 10, 2019.

5/21-23 Global Patient-Centered Care Innovations Conference

AAKP and George Washington University will hold the inaugural Global Innovations in Patient-Centered Kidney Care Conference May 21-23, 2019 in Washington DC.  The aim is to gather healthcare professionals, academics, government leaders and regulators, industry experts, entrepreneurs, and patient advocates to promote better kidney disease treatment.  Attendance is free to kidney patients and medical students.  Find more information and registration at https://aakp.org/global-summit/,  and the tentative agenda at https://aakp.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GLOBAL-SUMMIT-AGENDA_ONLINE-3-12-19.pdf.

4/11 Online Job Fair

My Employment Options will hold a free April 11, 2019 online Job Fair.  For details see https://www.myemploymentoptions.com/register-for-virtual-job-fair/.

3/22+ CEU Courses in Spanish

The Advanced Renal Education Center offers an extensive list of recorded online courses on kidney health and treatments, some of which are also offered in Spanish, and some of which are also offered for continuing education credits.  They have scheduled Spanish-language online continuing-education webinars on Fundamentals of PD for March 22, 2019 and on Peritonitis in PD for March 28, 2019.  See https://www.advancedrenaleducation.com/elearning/all for details.  The Advanced Renal Education Center is created and maintained by Fresenius, but their courses are open to everyone.

5/31 NHSN Training

Required Annual Training: The Dialysis Event Module annual training has been updated and moved to a new platform called CDC TRAIN.  Self-paced training and post-assessment will remain the same as the previous version, but the CDC TRAIN platform requires you to register with the site, and allows you to save your training certificates after completion.  NHSN recommends that all users take this training, but at least one user per facility is required to take and pass this training annually.  Find the training course and instruction guide at https://www.cdc.gov/nhsn/dialysis/event/index.html.  Email NHSN@cdc.gov with “Dialysis” in the subject line with any questions.

Training Needs Assessment: In taking the NHSN Dialysis Event Module Training Needs Assessment, some users experienced a system error which only permitted them to complete the Demographics section of the survey.  If you experienced this, please retake the Assessment, at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DialysisEventTNA. NHSN apologizes for the inconvenience and truly values your input.  If you have not taken the Assessment yet, please do, to help NHSN better understand training needs for the Dialysis Event Module.  The Assessment will remain open until May 31, 2019.

3/16 NW18 UCI Health WKD Symposium

UC Irvine Health will present a free March 16, 2019 World Kidney Day symposium in Orange, CA on Kidney health, featuring leading experts in Nephrology, Urology, Transplant, and Nutrition.  Patients, providers, and community members are all invited to enjoy a day of education, health screenings, refreshments, and live entertainment.  For details see https://twitter.com/IFKF_/status/1103801441846587392 and https://www.facebook.com/events/638668909886763/?notif_t=event_invite_reminder&notif_id=1551199891724380.

4/5 DFC Technical Expert Panel Nominations

CMS has commissioned UM-KECC to assemble 10-20 volunteers for a Technical Expert Panel (TEP) to formulate a process for periodically resetting ESRD clinical quality Star-Rating criteria so that the Ratings continue to differentiate facility quality of care when treatment-quality trends reduce the variation between facilities.  Volunteers will include patients, caregivers, ESRD subject matter experts, methodologists, and specialists working on dialysis QI and healthcare disparities.  The TEP will require a one-day in-person meeting in Baltimore in June, plus 3-7 conference calls before and after.  Nominations must be submitted by April 5, 2019.  The current call for nominations doesn’t mention it, but past TEPs have reimbursed travel expenses.  For details and nomination forms, see https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/MMS/TEP-Currently-Accepting-Nominations.html#a0305.

“It’s Your Choice” Campaign

As we all know, many patients crash into dialysis.  This leaves them feeling poorly with no time to really learn about modality options or all the other choices that they have for optimal care that fits them best.  We want patients to know that they have choices and we want to help direct them to where they can find information or tools to help them make informed decisions regarding their dialysis care.

We are kicking off the It’s Your Choice Campaign.  We will be sending you various patient focused resources to distribute.  You can be creative in the distribution.  One month you can just print and hand them out to your patients.  Maybe the next month, you have it printed poster size and post it by the scale, depending on the resource.  It’s your choice!

We also would encourage you to let us know if you have a patient resource that has been particularly helpful in supporting optimal kidney care.  We would love to add it to our library.  In the future we plan to have a whole webpage dedicated to It’s Your Choice with a variety of resources for dialysis and CKD patients, including flyers, brochures, posters and maybe even a podcast with timely information.