Category Archives: Self-Care (Staff)

8/20+ Webinar on Emotional Balance

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Quality Insights (ESRD Network 5), the Coalition for Supportive Care of Kidney Patients, and the Medical Technology & Practice Patterns Institute will present a free August 20, 2020 webinar, repeating it August 26, on Maintaining Emotional Balance in an Unbalancing Time.  The webinar will discuss how providers can respond to dialysis patients and their families when they encounter hard questions and emotional distress about COVID-19, including strategies for responding to anxiety and fear, the dialysis facility as a source of stability, and ways to honor the memory of patients who have passed.  Free CE credits will be available.  Register for the August 20 session at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CSCKP8202020 or the August 26 session at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CSCKP08262020.  See below for details:

COVID-19 Compassion Fatigue Webinar Recording

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The June 22, 2020 IPRO Quality Innovation Network (ESRD Networks 1,2,6,9) webinar on COVID-19 and Compassion Fatigue (see https://nwrnbulletins.wordpress.com/category/facility-staff/burn-out/) was recorded, and is now available.  Find a recording of the webinar at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAR5M1_HZ_U, and a PDF of the slides at https://network2.esrd.ipro.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/06/COVID-19-and-Compassion-Fatigue.pdf.

6/22 Webinar on COVID-19 & Compassion Fatigue

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The IPRO Quality Innovation Network (Networks 1, 2, 6, and 9) will present a July 22, 2020 webinar on COVID-19 and Compassion Fatigue.  For an introduction to Compassion Fatigue, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7keppA8XRas&feature=youtu.be.  For more information on the webinar, see below.  Register for the webinar at this link.

HDC on Safe Social Work and COVID-19

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Home Dialysis Central has published a blog post on Dialysis Social Work During a Pandemic: Caring for Patients Safely, thoroughly reviewing what are permitted and required by:

  • CMS Conditions for Coverage,
  • Social Work licenses and training,
  • Medicare reimbursement rules and waivers,
  • Patient and staff safety,
  • Home dialysis,
  • Effective communication,
  • PPE,
  • Telehealth,
  • Comparative advantage,

all in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Find the post at https://homedialysis.org/news-and-research/blog/361-dialysis-social-work-during-a-pandemic-caring-for-patients-safely.

Free Online CSU Palliative Care Courses

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The California State University Shiley Institute for Palliative Care has removed fees from 19 of their online palliative care courses until June 30, 2020, in order to help make healthcare workers better prepared for the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic.  The courses include continuing education credit.  Their many offerings are grouped into these categories:

  • Introduction to Palliative Care Principles and Practice
  • Advance Care Planning and Documentation
  • Difficult Conversations and Communication Skills
  • Crisis Intervention and Management
  • Primary Palliative Care
  • Self-Care for Frontline Clinicians
  • Additional Resources – eBooks

Find more information at https://csupalliativecare.org/covid-19-resources/?mc_cid=6ff90d657e&mc_eid=67e1ad4c31.

5/13+ 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 by registering at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc7p9hVpdfnRoFqWq0Y58Z_y85aly0cNpKneZTZKq-1rD5itg/viewform.

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.

NW16 5/16+ CNSW Educational Conference

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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.

3/8 Mindfulness & Patient Safety WIHI

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IHI will present a March 8, 2018 “WIHI” on Mindfulness and Patient Safety.  When we’re “mindful” we’re paying attention to what’s happening in the Present Moment instead of reviewing the past or planning the future.  Mindfulness is also a powerful stress reduction and self-care technique.  Find more information, sample exercises, and relevant links, and register, at http://www.ihi.org/education/AudioVideo/WIHI/mindfulness-and-patient-safety/Pages/default.aspx.  Find ten introductory exercises at http://www.ihi.org/communities/blogs/10-mindfulness-exercises-for-the-health-care-workplace.

Right to Self-Cannulate

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Home Dialysis Central  has published a thorough summary of the right that a patient has to “be informed about and participate, if desired, in all aspects of his or her care” [42 CFR 494.70(a)(5)], including self-cannulation.  A facility that denies a competent patient the right to be trained to self-cannulate is vulnerable to state survey citation tags V456, V512, and V585.  Find the summary at http://homedialysis.org/news-and-research/blog/214-self-cannulation-a-patient-right-and-cms-expectation-for-interested-and-trained-patients .