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.

11/2 NW16 CNSW Fall Conference

The Northwest Chapter of CNSW will hold their Fall 2018 Educational Conference in Issaquah WA on November 2, 2018.  Topics include Bioethics, Transplant, and End of Life. The Conference offers six CEUs.  Find details and register at https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/nwrn.org/files/N/CNSW/CNSW.FALL.2018.pdf.  Use this form if registering via credit card: https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/nwrn.org/files/N/CNSW/CNSW.CE.Fall.2018.pdf.

10/21 NW18 Renal Update

The local chapters of ANNA, NANT, and NKF will present the Annual Renal Update 2018 conference in Irvine CA on 21 October 2018.  Topics will include pediatric nephrology, medications, dialysis history, zero infections, extracorporeal circuits, transpants, fluid management, and patient care techncians.  The conference fee will include eight CE hours, breakfast and lunch.  For details and registration see https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/nwrn.org/files/N/ANNA/ANNA18.18.pdf – and don’t miss the map to the venue on page 2.