Self-care guidelines: finding a common ground

Abstract

Pressure to reduce overall transplant costs is one of the factors which has led to earlier hospital discharge and increased patient management challenges in outpatient and home care settings. Earlier discharge often contributes to decreased opportunity to provide and ensure comprehension of critical patient and family education, resulting in challenges for home care clinicians who are committed not only to patient and environmental assessments, but to helping assure patient and family understanding of and compliance with critical posttransplant responsibilities and regimens. This article describes a transplant patient education tool that was developed for use with all types of solid organ transplant recipients discharged from multiple centers yet managed by a single home care organization. The tool provides patient education information that can be realistically reviewed and reinforced during the home visit. The resource focuses on key self-care issues to promote wellness and graft survival and help prevent adverse outcomes.

Can Focusing on Self-Care Reduce Disparities in Kidney Transplantation Outcomes?

“…Efforts undertaken by transplant programs to routinely foster post-transplant self-care are limited, suggesting relatively little attention to this need. Most programs focus on improving compliance through participation in social support groups (11)(12)(13)(14), and distributing educational pamphlets (10). Other transplant programs help identify social network resources (15), and provide assistance in finding employment (16) to improve patient quality of life and foster patient empowerment.…”

“…Further, minimal work has been directed toward the self-care needs of minorities. There is also a lack of systematic program evaluation (e.g., 10,14,15). Addressing these specific limitations would help to improve current and future programs.…”