Kidney Summit Projects
BCPRA hosted the Chronic Kidney Disease Summit in Vancouver in June 2005, a landmark event that engaged healthcare professionals, senior health administrators and key stakeholders in BC, across Canada and internationally.
Program
The Summit initiated the following four projects, on which event participants and other stakeholders worked between September 2005 and March 2006.
1. Policy Initiatives: Promote primary and secondary prevention-related policy initiatives and decisions.
Building on an environmental scan of existing Canadian federal and provincial prevention-related policy initiatives addressing kidney disease, heart disease and diabetes (both individual and collective) this project team met several times to determine gaps and propose a plan for implementation. Three possible directions were considered: promoting continuing medical education that would encourage a “three-disease” approach; engaging Ministry of Health decision-makers in discussion about policy changes that would benefit people with one or more of the three diseases; and asking for representation on the established Healthy Living Alliance. The group’s work was incorporated with project group two’s work (see below) and a presentation was made to the Ministry of Health in March 2006.
2. Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Encourage collaboration among kidney, heart and diabetes communities.
An environmental scan conducted for this group identified existing initiatives that demonstrate a common approach to the treatment, prevention/promotion, and/or research of kidney disease, heart disease and diabetes at the provincial, federal and international levels. Given the lack of such initiatives that span the three diseases, however, the project group engaged a senior executive and a volunteer from each of the representative provincial non-profit groups (Canadian Diabetes Association, Kidney Foundation, Heart and Stroke Foundation) – along with senior representatives from the clinical counterparts of these disease groups – and developed a presentation for the BC Ministry of Health which outlined a number of options to improve care for this disease cluster.
3. Clinical Tools for Complex Patients: Identify and promote a shared clinical tool for use by kidney, heart disease and diabetes health professionals.
After reviewing an environmental scan of existing tools used by health professionals for the management of chronic disease, this project group decided on an integrated care approach that involves the development of a “process map” to outline the progression of care/patient flow (i.e. how care is organized and coordinated throughout the patient’s “journey”). The process mapping project was built on the examples of two existing clinics focused on patients with diabetes, heart disease and/or kidney diseases – one in Vancouver and one in Penticton. A template defining key elements of collaborative relationships and/or integrated care was developed.
4. Patient Self-Management: Develop a project for the self-management of kidney and heart disease and diabetes, building on existing self-management strategies.
Over several meetings, this project group worked on an environmental scan to review existing self-management approaches and programs, agree to a definition of self-management, and develop a common approach to self-management. A paper was developed on strategies and tools to effectively engage health professionals in supporting patients to self manage.
The four projects are now completed, and their results have driven and/or are being applied to a number of other “disease cluster” initiatives. The Kidney Summit projects were co-sponsored by BCPRA, the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) Cardiac Services, The Kidney Foundation of Canada (BC Branch), the BC Ministry of Health, and UBC Department of Medicine.
For more information about the Kidney Summit Projects contact the BC Renal Agency office at: 604-875-7340 or by
email.