Renal News Winter 2018

Renal News
Winter 2018

PCC Wins 2018 Quality Award

The BC Renal Agency’s Palliative Care Committee (PCC) received the 2018 runner up Quality Award in the Coping with End of Life category, from the BC Patient Safety and Quality Council.

The award was presented at the BCPSQC’s annual gala awards event on February 21 in Vancouver.

The PCC is chaired by Victoria nephrologist Gaylene Hargrove and consists of over 30 members from all health authorities, including patients, physicians, nurses, allied health professionals and a spiritual care specialist.

Palliative Care Committee

In January, the BCPRA Palliative Care Committee launched a two-year culture-changing project to promote an integrated palliative approach to care for all registered patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) across the province. The goal is to ensure renal care providers have the resources and support to provide palliative care and start making it routine for all patients with advanced CKD.

A New PROMIS Platform

The PROMS team is launching a new version of the patient records database, dubbed “PROMIS 4” on March 26,2018.

Initially, PROMIS 4 will replace the current Patient View and add some functionality currently found in the Classic version of the database system.

Happy Senior with Nurse

PD Assist is Now Province Wide

The provincial rollout of the BC Renal Agency’s innovative PD Assist program is now complete, with the recent addition of service for qualified patients in Northern Health.

New Approach to Vascular Access

A team of clinicians at St. Paul ’s Hospital recently participated in an International trial of a new, minimally invasive method for creating vascular accesses for patients transitioning to hemodialysis. Leading these efforts at St. Paul’s were nephrologist Dr. Mercedeh Kiaii and radiologist Dr. Jason Clement.

Refugees and Non-BC Residents

Regional renal programs are seeing increased numbers of refugees and non-residents who seek hemodialysis care in BC. While the BC Renal Agency does not fund or manage billing for these patients, to assist programs the agency produced an overview document that summarizes the processes and provides links to relevant resources. This document also provides step-by-step instructions related to capturing information about these patients in PROMIS, the renal information system. You can find the overview document on the website.

Overview Document

Transplant First Update

Launched in October 2017, the Transplant First initiative is now well underway. Kidney Care Clinics (KCC) across the province have received support materials, and further resources for KCC staff and patients are available from the BC Transplant website, including a video explaining how to help a patient through the living donor outreach process.

Provincial coordinator for the initiative, Carolyn Jarvis, is providing additional support to KCC staff with a special focus on supporting donor outreach.

Record Year for Kidney Transplants

Last year was a record setter for kidney transplant and organ donation statistics in BC.

In 2017, BC’s deceased organ donor rate rose to 24.9 donors per million people from 20.3 per million in 2016 – a whopping 25 percent increase. At 479, the total number of organ transplants last year rose by 13 percent from the previous year.

Kidney Foundation

The Kidney Foundation is committed to increasing organ donation registration and kidney transplantation by 50 percent by 2020. The Saving Lives Through Organ Donation campaign was launched in 2015 and has had conversations with over 2,500 British Columbians about the barriers and challenges to organ donation.

Can-Solve

Can-SOLVE CKD Network Websites: Information and opportunities for patients

The Can-SOLVE CKD Network (Canadians Seeking Solutions and Innovations to Overcome Chronic Kidney Disease) has launched two new websites: http://kidneycheck.ca and http://gnregistry.ca.

Events

CKD e-Learning

CKD e-Learning Webinar for GPs
May 16, 2018

General practitioners are invited to participate in an e-Learning webinar about providing care for end-stage CKD patients.

KCC Education

KCC Education Series

The monthly Kidney Care Clinic education series continues to attract staff members from across BC using webinar and teleconferencing, with average attendance at about 100 participants.

Kidney Smart Campaign

Now in its seventh year, the BC Renal Agency's Kidneysmart.com campaign is running throughout March to raise awareness of kidney disease and to promote our online kidney health assessment, now available in English, Chinese and Punjabi.

World Kidney Day

World Kidney Day (March 8th) fell on International Women’s Day this year, so it’s fitting that the theme was Kidneys and Women’s Health: Include, Value, Empower.

BC Kidney Days

BC Kidney Days 2018 is scheduled for November 1-2, 2018. This year the event will be held in a new location, at the JW Marriot Parq Hotel in downtown Vancouver.

ISPD 2018

It’s not too late to register for ISPD 2018, the International Society of Peritoneal Dialysis congress, being held in Vancouver, May 5-8, 2018. This year’s theme is "Patient-Centered Care."

Patients Needed for International PD Congress

The upcoming International Society of Peritoneal Dialysis Congress is calling for patients who are interested in taking part as speakers, session chairs and panelists.

New on the Web

View the latest documents, guidelines and protocols on the BCPRA website! Did you know? We are also on YouTube!