Optimising health care for people living with chronic kidney disease: Health‐professional perspectives

Abstract

Background: People with chronic kidney disease are often multimorbid and have complex psychosocial needs. For health professionals to deliver holistic, personcentred care to individuals and their carers living with this multifaceted disease, they are required to communicate complex information and problem solve in a multifactorial health and disease context.Objectives: To explore the perspectives and experiences of tertiary care multidisciplinary team members and primary care providers of health care to people with chronic kidney disease; identify opportunities to innovate and improve the coordinated delivery of health services.Design: The qualitative study design used purposive sampling to recruit 39 health professionals, working in the primary and tertiary sector in a regional Australian health district. Participants included general practitioners, renal and general practice nurses, dietitians, nephrologists and social workers.Approach: The data were collected through semistructured interviews and analysed using a relativist ontological position and directed content analysis approach. Analysis of interviews was undertaken by three independent researchers and key themes were derived via consensus. Findings and Conclusions:A common goal to deliver person-centred individualised care was evident among health care professionals. However a deficit in shared understanding of the disease within and between disciplines was identified. The complex nature of chronic kidney disease requires up-skilling of health professionals to ensure patient education is targeted to individual health contexts and motivates self-management. Improved communication and comprehension might best be achieved across disciplines with an integrated approach to delivery of primary health care to individuals living with early-stage kidney disease.

The Impact of eHealth Interventions on the Improvement of Self-Care in Chronic Patients: An Overview of Systematic Reviews

“…Regarding the role of healthcare workers, this summary emphasizes the fact that eHealth interventions are most effective at improving self-care when they are led by multidisciplinary teams, especially when such teams work in primary care [ 30 , 32 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 ]. This is probably because specialized multidisciplinary teams can address both health and social health issues, ensuring that care is personalized and based on the perceived needs of the patient [ 63 ].…”