May Newsletter
Check out all our latest updates
Recently, HDU board members Nieltje Gedney, Denise Eilers, and transplant patient Kyle Chang were invited to present their thoughts on "Person Centered Care" at the 2021 National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinicals. The May HDU newsletter focuses on various aspects of this concept.
Please share this important newsletter with your care team and others who are interested.
Focus on Our Friends
Once again, HDU features a blog from our friends at Home Dialysis Central. The old adage, "curiosity killed the cat," is certainly not applicable to health care and dialysis. Curiosity, knowledge, questioning, and adopting a take charge attitude is essential for making the best health decisions for your lifestyle.
The Power of Curiosity in Sharing Shared Decision Making - Home Dialysis Central
Noteworthy News
Patient & Family Centered Care
Whatever individuals and organizations call it, person centered care revolves around empowerment and taking charge of your own care. Although not specific to dialysis, PFCC Partners contains tools and education about becoming more engaged in your care. Below is a statement by them, followed by a link to their website and also the Joint Commission's TakeCHARGE initiative. Note that the site contains content for both professionals and patients.
"Has there ever been a moment in time when people have been more aware, more engaged in their own health? The pandemic brought along daily health related decisions for all of us. This is unprecedented engagement! Our challenge is to sustain the active participation of people in their own health and open more doors to for people to engage more deeply into the design of healthcare delivery in the US.
As we continue to implement the infrastructure for a person centered health system, we must also prepare the general public for their new role in healthcare. Imagine a clinician initiates a shared decision making conversation, but the person on the other end is unprepared to fully engage. With the heightened awareness of health and health systems people are experiencing during the pandemic, it seems an opportune moment to introduce and sustain a more active role in healthcare for all people.
If you are reading this, chances are you are already active in the healthcare space. What opportunities do you see in your communities, in your neighborhoods, you faith centers, your family to bring people into plan for their own healthcare priorities and needs? We encourage you to share the TakeCHARGE Campaign, linked below. These are five simple things that all of us can do to prepare ourselves for healthcare encounters. Spending time to intentionally think about our preferences and priorities so that we can participate fully in health care encounters is essential to creating a person centered health system."
CMS Promotes Self Management
In a presentation to the recent American Nephrology Nurses Association (ANNA) conference, Paul Bennett speaks about the CMS mandate to promote patient "activation." The link to a summary of Paul's talk is below.
Renal Fellow Network Highlights Barriers to Home Dialysis
The 2019 Advancing American Kidney Health (AAKH) executive order set a goal: by 2025, 80% of incident patients with kidney failure should be treated with home dialysis therapies (peritoneal or home hemodialysis) or kidney transplantation. Though use of home therapies is increasing, this remains a lofty goal considering the current rate of dialysis. Per the current 2020 USRDS data, only 11% of incident and 12.5% of prevalent patients with kidney failure on dialysis were treated with home dialysis.
This blog at the Renal Fellow Network addresses barriers to this initiative from both the professional and patient perspective.
Person-Centered Plan of Care
This is an excellent article from the Kidney Medicine Journal that focuses on the person's life goals. Below is an excerpt from the introduction and a link to the article.
"Despite growing interest in individualizing care, routine dialysis processes, including the interdisciplinary plan of care, often fail to account for patient-identified priorities. To better align dialysis care with patient priorities and improve care planning experiences, we implemented a person-centered care plan program at a single clinic. We also sought to gain insight into key implementation considerations and areas for program improvement."
Kidney Quotables
"Changing the delivery of care with a person centered focus will require a long term shift in our practice and indeed, our thinking."
Tom Higgins, St. Ambrose University '67
Person Centered Care Institute (PCCI), Board of Directors, Davenport, IA
Higgins, a l967 SAU graduate is the founding donor for the Institute. His passion for investing social justice into health care began shortly after his graduation, with the founding of a drug crisis intervention clinic in downtown Davenport and, a few years later, as the U.S. Welfare Commissioner and a senior White House staff member in the Carter Administration.
This is the must visit site for the PCCI at St Ambrose University. It contains a vast amount of information about person centered care for professionals and the general public:
A Final Thought
What do you think of the person centered care idea? Does the terminology matter? How do we, as an organization, get the care teams on board with this concept? HDU would love to hear your thoughts. Post your ideas on the HDU Facebook page or contact HDU directly at ngedney@homedialyzorsunited.org.