Renal Caregivers - KDOQI EDUCATION (Survey)

KDOQI EDUCATION PUTTING GUIDELINES INTO PRACTICE Participate in our survey Dear Friend, The National Kidney Foundation's (NKF) Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI™) is recognized throughout the world for providing evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and transforming the care of patients with kidney disease. KDOQI expanded its scope of work in 2009. In addition to guideline development and commentaries, KDOQI also supports targeted research, advocates public policy positions consistent with KDOQI guideline recommendations and develops implementation and education tools for KDOQI guidelines. In order to help better define future roles for KDOQI education, we would like to hear from you about our programs and how we can improve our resources. Please take a moment to complete our survey. Click here. Your thoughts will be a great asset to NKF and KDOQI. Warm Regards, Michael Choi, MD Vice Chair of KDOQI Education Michael Rocco, MD KDOQI Chair WWW.KDOQI.ORG

25 Facts About Organ Donation and Transplantation. NKF.

The success rates of transplant surgery have improved remarkably, but growing shortages exist in the supply of organs and tissues available for transplantation. Many Americans who need transplants cannot get them because of these shortages. The result: some of these people die while waiting for that "Gift of Life."
Each year, the National Kidney Foundation develops special public education programs aimed at increasing public awareness of the need for organ and tissue donation. Learning more about organ and tissue donation will help every American to make an informed decision about this important issue. Here are some facts everyone should know:

1. 104,748 U.S. patients are currently waiting for an organ transplant; more than 4,000 new patients are added to the waiting list each month.
2. Every day, 18 people die while waiting for a transplant of a vital organ, such as a heart, liver, kidney, pancreas, lung or bone marrow.
3. Because of the lack of available donors in this country, 4,573 kidney patients, 1,506 liver patients, 371 heart patients and 234 lung patients died in 2008 while waiting for life-saving organ transplants.
4. Nearly 10 percent of the patients currently waiting for heart transplants are young people under 18 years of age.
5. Acceptable organ donors can range in age from newborn to 65 years or more. People who are 65 years of age or older may be acceptable donors, particularly of corneas, skin, bone and for total body donation.
6. An estimated 12,000 people who die each year meet the criteria for organ donation, but less than half of that number become actual organ donors.
7. Donor organs are matched to waiting recipients by a national computer registry, called the National Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). This computer registry is operated by an organization known as the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which is located in Richmond, Virginia.
8. Currently there are 58 organ procurement organizations (OPOs) across the country, which provide organ procurement services to 250 transplant centers.
9. All hospitals are required by law to have a "Required Referral" system in place. Under this system, the hospital must notify the local Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) of all patient deaths. If the OPO determines that organ and/or tissue donation is appropriate in a particular case, they will have a representative contact the deceased patient’s family to offer them the option of donating their loved one’s organs and tissues.
10. By signing a Uniform Donor Card, an individual indicates his or her wish to be a donor. However, at the time of death, the person's next-of-kin will still be asked to sign a consent form for donation. It is important for people who wish to be organ and tissue donors to tell their family about this decision so that their wishes will be honored at the time of death.
11. All costs related to the donation of organs and tissues are paid for by the donor program. A family who receives a bill by mistake should contact the hospital or procurement agency immediately.
12. Tissue donation can enhance the lives of more than 50 people. Donated heart valves, bone, skin, corneas and connective tissues can be used in vital medical procedures such as heart valve replacements, limb reconstruction following tumor surgery, hip and knee joint reconstruction and in correcting curvature of the spine.
13. In 2008, a total of 14,208 organ donors were recovered in the U.S. Of these, 7,990 were cadaveric donors, which represented a decrease over the total of 8,019 in 2006. Living donors decreased from 6,732 in 2006 to 6,218 in 2008.
14. Donor organs and tissues are removed surgically, and the donor’s body is closed, as in any surgery. There are no outward signs of organ donation and open casket funerals are still possible.
15. Acceptable organ donors are those who are "brain dead" (whose brain function has ceased permanently) but whose heart and lungs continue to function with the use of ventilators. Brain dead is a legal definition of death.
16. Organ transplant recipients are selected on the basis of medical urgency, as well as compatibility of body size and blood chemistries, and not race, sex or creed.
17. Advances in surgical technique and organ preservation and the development of more effective drugs to prevent rejection have improved the success rates of all types of organ and tissue transplants.
18. About 94.4 percent of the kidneys transplanted from cadavers (persons who died recently) are still functioning well at one year after surgery.
19. The results are even better for kidneys transplanted from living donors. One year after surgery, 97.96 percent of these kidneys were still functioning well.
20. Following are one-year patient and organ graft survival rates:

Organ		Patient Survival Rate		Graft Survival Rate
Kidney (cadaveric) Kidney (live donor) Liver		94.4% 97.9% 90.1%		89.0% 95.1% 82.0%

21. Following is a comparison of the numbers of organ transplants done in 2008 and the numbers of individuals who are on the national waiting list as of November 2009.

Organ		Number of Transplants in 2008		Number of Patients on Waiting List* (of November 2009)
Kidney Kidney/Pancreas Pancreas Liver Heart Heart/lung Lung Intestine Total:		16,520 837 436 6,319 2,163 27 1,478 185 27,965		82,364 2,220 1,488 15,915 2,884 83 1,863 229 107,046

22. Of the 13,156 single kidney transplants performed in 2008, 5,968 were from living donors and the rest were from cadaveric donors. In addition, 837 kidneys were transplanted in combination with pancreas transplants.
23. Over 2,500 bone marrow transplants were performed in the U.S. in 2004. Marrow is collected from a pelvic bone using a special needle while the volunteer donor is under anesthesia. The majority of bone marrow transplants are done for leukemia.
24. In the United States fewer than 2.5% of patients with end-stage kidney disease undergo transplantation as their first treatment or therapy. The National Kidney Foundation is dedicated to educating kidney patients about the benefits of pre-emptive transplantation - when a person is able to go straight to transplant without dialysis they usually have good health outcomes.
25. 2008 was the first time in 20 years that there was a decline in the number of deceased donors used for transplants. Living donors in 2008 were at their lowest numbers since 2001.
26. Virtually all religious denominations approve of organ and tissue donation as representing the highest humanitarian ideals and the ultimate charitable act.

Shad Ireland Ever Inspiring

I have seen this presentation before and wanted to share it as this man is so motivating!

Spouses of Dialysis Patients Have Reduced Kidney Function

Spouses of Dialysis Patients Have Reduced Kidney Function

Married couples share a bed, a life, children, but chronic illness? A new study, reported in the May issue of American Journal of Kidney Diseases, suggests that a shared home environment and health habits can contribute to the development of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the spouses of dialysis patients.

“We were surprised to find that the risk of developing chronic kidney disease for spouses of hemodialysis patients is just about as high as it is for blood relatives of these patients,” said study author Dr. Hung-Chun Chen of the Division of Nephrology at Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital in Taiwan.

To see how environmental factors might contribute to the development of CKD, researchers examined prevalence of chronic kidney disease in 95 spouses and 196 first- and second-degree relatives of 178 hemodialysis patients, who had been undergoing dialysis for between three months and 21 years.

The prevalence of CKD was found to be significantly higher in spouses and relatives of hemodialysis patients, than in a matched control group who were not related or married to patients. Both types of relatives were found to have a noticeably lower estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), a measure of kidney function, and a high rate of albuminuria, or protein in the urine, an early sign of kidney disease.

The spouses had higher rates of habitual smoking, use of herbal medicines and analgesics and high blood pressure than their control group. Additionally, diabetes, which can be caused by obesity and poor health habits, was found to be a significant risk factor for CKD in spouses of dialysis patients.

“In light of these findings, it is critically important that spouses of dialysis patients receive careful screening for chronic kidney disease, in addition to first degree relatives,” said Dr. Kerry Willis, Senior Vice President for Scientific Activities, National Kidney Foundation. “Education about the role of environmental factors and health habits in increasing the risk of developing CKD is essential, as well.”

The National Kidney Foundation offers free screenings to those at risk of chronic kidney disease—anyone with high blood pressure, diabetes or a family history of chronic kidney disease, through its Kidney Early Evaluation Program.