Category Archives: Mental Health (Staff)

4/1+ Weekly Staff Support Calls

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Beginning April 1, 2020, the Coalition for Supportive Care of Kidney Patients will hold a weekly half-hour Open Discussion for Professional Providers of Supportive Care for Kidney Patients with COVID-19.  If you have concerns about how to address the supportive care needs of kidney disease patients who have COVID-19, join members of the Coalition’s Executive Committee (Alvin Moss, MD; Dale Lupu, MPH, PhD; Elizabeth Anderson, LCSW, DSW; Glenda Harbert, RN, CPHQ, CNN) weekly for Open Discussion.  All professional providers of supportive care of kidney patients are welcome.  It is hard to know what we will all need the coming weeks.  Attendance is free.  If you feel stuck, have questions, or want to connect with colleagues, join the Discussion any Wednesday at 11:30 am Pacific Time, at https://zoom.us/j/376000936.  For more information, see http://go.gwu.edu/opendiscussion.

Network Guidance on COVID-19 Stress for Staff

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Networks 16 and 18 have assembled a web page on Healthcare Workers – Coping with Infectious Disease Outbreaks in the Dialysis Setting.  In addition to guidance for maintaining your own health in situations of extreme stress, it includes links to the SAMHSA Disaster Distress Helpline (in English, Spanish, and 14 other languages) and their document on Taking Care of Your Behavioral Health: Tips for Social Distancing, Quarantine, and Isolation during an Infectious Disease Outbreak.  Find the Network web page at http://www.esrdnetwork18.org/wp-content/uploads/20200313-Coping-with-ID-Outbreaks.pdf.  While it’s aimed at facility staff, patients will also find it useful for managing their own stress.

3/1+ CA Dialysis Council Educational Conference

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The California Dialysis Council will hold their 38th Annual Educational Conference 2020 in Rancho Mirage CA on April 2-4, 2020.  Topics include home dialysis, palliative care, nephrology social work, living with CKD, adherence, mental health, transplant, CEO and CMO panels, a legislative update, and a Network update.  Continuing education credits are offered for nurses, dietitians, and social workers.  Critical dates include:

  • Early registration deadline March 1, 2020.
  • Exhibitor registration deadline March 2, 2020.
  • Room reservation deadline March 12, 2020.
  • Online registration deadline March 27, 2020.
  • Conference April 2-4, 2020.

On-site registration at the conference is allowed.  For full details see https://www.californiadialysis.org/annual-conference.html.

CW January New User Training, Newsletter

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CROWNWeb has published their January Newsletter, at https://mycrownweb.org/2020/01/january-2020-newsletter/.  It includes articles on

  • Medication Reconciliation and its January 9 and 23, 2020 training sessions
  • PY2020 PSRs and PSCs (see also https://nwrnbulletins.wordpress.com/2019/12/03/py2020-qip-final-psr-and-psc-released/)
  • ICH CAHPS CY2019 exemption attestation (deadline March 2, 2020)
  • CY2020 Clinical Depression Screening requirements
  • January 16, 2020 training for ICH CAHPS and Depression Screening reporting requirements
  • Clinical data submission deadlines (if your Network doesn’t require earlier submission)

Plus announcement of the January 21, 2020 New User Training, and the usual lists of always-useful resources and links.

Find information and register for the January 30, 2020 CROWNWeb Town Hall on signing up for HCQIS HARP at https://mycrownweb.org/pcw_community_events/january-2020-town-hall/.

12/12+ Fall 2019 Provider Newsletter and Archive

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We’ve published the Fall 2019 ESRD Network 16/18 Provider Newsletters.  Find them at:

We include links to earlier issues at the end of this post.  Most content is the same for both Networks, but not all.  We’ve marked where they differ, and we’ve used blue type where information in one version also applies to the other Network.  The Fall 2019 issue feature articles on:

  • Quality Improvement:
    • 2020 Quality Improvement Activities, which we expect to begin before Christmas.
    • Changes to the ESRD QIP, which include changes to measures for the Transplant Waitlist, Medication Reconciliation, Transfusions, and BSIs.  We’ve scheduled a December 12, 2019 webinar to summarize these QIP changes (and the many other measures that aren’t changing).
    • Opioid Awareness and Pain Management.
    • Diabetes Self-Management.
  • Patient Services:
    • Managing Patient Expectations to help create a calm and conflict-free environment.
    • The Dialysis Patient Depression Toolkit.
    • Patient Newsletters in English and Spanish for each Network.
  • Data:
    • The importance of Keeping Patient Information Up to Date, especially patient addresses, which are critical for tracking everyone in emergencies and disasters, for identifying home facilities and transplant centers near the patient, for receiving notices like the New ESRD Patient Orientation Packet, and for monitoring patient clusters so your organization can effectively plan where to locate new facilities.
    • A mini-lesson on how to admit a new patient into CROWNWeb if they do not have an SSN or MBI.
  • Emergency Preparedness:
    • Fire Danger Power Shutoffs and Fire Resources in California (NW18 version).
    • The new ESRD Facility Emergency Preparedness Final Rule that went into effect on November 29, 2019 (NW18 version but also relevant to NW16).
    • New KCER document on Emergency Disconnect Procedure for In-Center Hemodialysis Patients (NW16 version but also relevant to NW18).
    • Notify the Network of any Interruptions in Service.
    • KCER Newsletter.
  • Notify the Network of any Personnel Changes.
  • Upcoming Events!

We also list events of interest to Dialysis Facilities, Transplant Centers, and staff, on our Facility Calendar, via the link at the top of this page.

Find previous issues at:

NW16 11/1+ CNSW-NW Fall Conference, Issaquah WA

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November 1, 2019 is the registration deadline for the November 8 CNSW NW Chapter Fall 2019 Educational Conference in Issaquah WA.  Ignore the earlier deadline on the Conference brochure (https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/nwrn.org/files/CNSW/CNSW_Fall.2019.pdf), and use the registration form at https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/nwrn.org/files/CNSW/CNSW.REG.Fall.2019.pdf to RSVP.  Conference topics include ethics, mental health, end of life, patient support, patient engagement, and patient collaboration, with 6.5 CEUs offered.

NW16 11/8 CNSW Fall Conference, Issaquah WA

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The CNSW NW Chapter will host their Fall 2019 Educational Conference in Issaquah WA on November 8, 2019.  Topics include ethics, mental health, end of life, patient support, patient engagement, and patient collaboration.  6.5 CEUs are offered.  Find details at https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/nwrn.org/files/CNSW/CNSW_Fall.2019.pdf and register at https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/nwrn.org/files/CNSW/CNSW.REG.Fall.2019.docx.  RSVP by November 1, 2019.  Early registration expires October 11, 2019.