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Kidney transplant referral practices in southeastern dialysis units.

ABSTRACT: The Southeastern Kidney Transplant Coalition was created in 2010 to improve kidney transplant (KTx) rates in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. To identify dialysis staff-reported barriers to transplant, the Coalition developed a survey of dialysis providers in the region.All dialysis units in the ESRD Network (n = 586) were sent a survey to be completed by the professional responsible for helping patients get transplants.One staff member at almost all (n = 546) of the dialysis units in Network 6 completed the survey (93% response rate). Almost all respondents reported being very comfortable (51.47%) or comfortable (46.89%) discussing the KTx process with patients. Just over half (56%) of facilities reported discussing KTx as a treatment option with patients on an annual basis. Fewer than one quarter of respondents (19%) perceived that more than 50% of their patients were interested in kidney transplant, and most of the staff surveyed (68%) reported that <25% of their dialysis patients completed the evaluation process and been wait-listed for a kidney transplant.The survey results provide insight into KTx referral practices in southeastern dialysis units that may be contributing to low KTx rates in this region.

SUBMITTER: Browne T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4818732 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Kidney transplant referral practices in southeastern dialysis units.

Browne Teri T Patzer Rachel E RE Gander Jennifer J Amamoo M Ahinee MA Krisher Jenna J Sauls Leighann L Pastan Stephen S

Clinical transplantation 20160212 4

<h4>Background</h4>The Southeastern Kidney Transplant Coalition was created in 2010 to improve kidney transplant (KTx) rates in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. To identify dialysis staff-reported barriers to transplant, the Coalition developed a survey of dialysis providers in the region.<h4>Methods</h4>All dialysis units in the ESRD Network (n = 586) were sent a survey to be completed by the professional responsible for helping patients get transplants.<h4>Results</h4>One staff mem ...[more]

PMID: 26782140

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Project description:BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:For patients with ESRD, referral from a dialysis facility to a transplant center for evaluation is an important step toward kidney transplantation. However, a standardized measure for assessing clinical performance of dialysis facilities transplant access is lacking. We describe methodology for a new dialysis facility measure: the Standardized Transplantation Referral Ratio. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS:Transplant referral data from 8308 patients with incident ESRD within 249 dialysis facilities in the United States state of Georgia were linked with US Renal Data System data from January of 2008 to December of 2011, with follow-up through December of 2012. Facility-level expected referrals were computed from a two-stage Cox proportional hazards model after patient case mix risk adjustment including demographics and comorbidities. The Standardized Transplantation Referral Ratio (95% confidence interval) was calculated as a ratio of observed to expected referrals. Measure validity and reliability were assessed. RESULTS:Over 2008-2011, facility Standardized Transplantation Referral Ratios in Georgia ranged from 0 to 4.87 (mean =1.16, SD=0.76). Most (77%) facilities had observed referrals as expected, whereas 11% and 12% had Standardized Transplantation Referral Ratios significantly greater than and less than expected, respectively. Age, race, sex, and comorbid conditions were significantly associated with the likelihood of referral, and they were included in risk adjustment for Standardized Transplantation Referral Ratio calculations. The Standardized Transplantation Referral Ratios were positively associated with evaluation, waitlisting, and transplantation (r=0.46, 0.35, and 0.20, respectively; P<0.01). On average, approximately 33% of the variability in Standardized Transplantation Referral Ratios was attributed to between-facility variation, and 67% of the variability in Standardized Transplantation Referral Ratios was attributed to within-facility variation. CONCLUSIONS:The majority of observed variation in dialysis facility referral performance was due to characteristics within a dialysis facility rather than patient factors included in risk adjustment models. Our study shows a method for computing a facility-level standardized measure for transplant referral on the basis of a pilot sample of Georgia dialysis facilities that could be used to monitor transplant referral performance of dialysis facilities.

Project description:This article presents a dataset of body composition in chronic kidney disease (CKD) non-dialysis-dependent (NDD), hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) (for at least 3 months), and kidney transplantation (KTx) (for at least 6 months) patients. The data were collected as part of a PhD research project, an observational cross-sectional study followed by a prospective analysis (about 6 months later). Adult CKD patients (18≤age≤60 years old) from a tertiary hospital were recruited: CKD in stages 3b to 5 for NDD patients; PD patients without peritonitis in the last 30 days; HD patients in 4-hour dialysis session, 3 times per week, through an arteriovenous fistula; and KTx patients with CKD in stages 1 to 3a. Patients with presence of amputated limbs or an electronic implant, wheelchair user or inpatient, body weight above 140 kg or BMI higher than 40 kg/m2, acute infections, cancer diagnosis, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, and others that could alter body composition were excluded. The dataset in this publication consist of some clinical measurements for characterization of the sample, body composition measurements by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and by bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy in tetra-polar whole-body wrist to ankle (BISWB) and segmental (BISSEG) protocols of 266 CKD patients, being 137 men and 129 women; 81 in NDD treatment, 83 in HD, 24 in PD, and 80 in KTx. Measurements were performed consecutively by the same professional after an 8-hour fast, empty urinary bladder, drainage of the peritoneal dialysate, and just after the midweek hemodialysis session. To analyze differences among subgroups according to sex and CKD treatment, unpaired T test or ANOVA and Chi-square, adjusted by Bonferroni post-test, were applied. Agreement in fat free mass and fat mass measurements between BISWB and BISSEG, for cross-sectional data and for body composition changes (prospective measurement - cross-sectional measurement), was checked using intraclass correlation coefficient and 95% confidence intervals. Agreement on individual level was evaluated using the Bland-Altman method with limits of agreement. The data can be valuable in the study of body composition in CKD under all types of treatment and also for agreement analysis among body composition measurements by different instruments and techniques. The data are analysed and interpreted in the research article Bellafronte et al., 2020 [1].

Project description:Dialysis facility performance measures to improve access to kidney transplantation are being considered. Referral of patients for kidney transplantation evaluation by the dialysis facility is one potential indicator, but limited data exist to evaluate whether referral is associated with existing dialysis facility quality indicators.Cross-sectional study.12,926 incident (July 2005 to September 2011) adult (aged 18-69 years) patients treated at 241 dialysis facilities with complete quality indicator information from US national registry data linked to transplantation referral data from all 3 Georgia kidney transplantation centers.Facility performance on dialysis quality indicators (high, intermediate, and low tertiles).Percentages of patients referred within 1 year of dialysis therapy initiation at dialysis facility.Overall, a median of 25.4% of patients were referred for kidney transplantation within 1 year of dialysis therapy initiation. Higher facility-level referral was associated with better performance with respect to standardized transplantation ratio (high, 28.6%; intermediate, 25.1%; and low, 22.9%; P=0.001) and percentage waitlisted (high, 30.7%; intermediate, 26.8%; and low, 19.2%; P<0.001). Facility-level referral was not associated with indicators of quality of care associated with dialysis therapy initiation, including percentage of incident patients being informed of transplantation options. For most non-transplantation-related indicators of high-quality care, including those capturing mortality, morbidity, and anemia management, better performance was not associated with higher facility-level transplantation referral.Potential ecologic fallacy and residual confounding.Transplantation referral among patients at dialysis facilities does not appear to be associated with overall quality of dialysis care at the facility. Quality indicators related to kidney transplantation were positively associated with, but not entirely correspondent with, higher percentages of patients referred for kidney transplantation evaluation from dialysis facilities. These results suggest that facility-level referral, which is within the control of the dialysis facility, may provide information about the quality of dialysis care beyond current indicators.

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Kidney transplant referral practices in southeastern dialysis units.

Publications

Kidney transplant referral practices in southeastern dialysis units.

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