Introduction:
Living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) is the preferred renal replacement therapy advocated for patients diagnosed with End-stage kidney disease due to its benefits of improved graft and patient survival (1), patient reported quality of life and morbidity profile following transplantation. However, a recent UK study showed that the rate of LDKT was 43.2% in White patients compared with 17.8% in Black patients (p <0.001)1. The lack of knowledge, risk perception, fear of financial burden on donors, guilt, religious and cultural influences and mistrust of the medical establishment are the commonly reported barriers.
Objective:
The aim of the study was to develop and evaluate a training to increase HPs' self-confidence in inspiring African and Caribbean patients to initiate LDKT conversation and to assess the feasibility of this approach.
Methods:
The training programme was co-developed via focus groups and relevant literature and refined with PPI (Gift of Living Donation) and multiprofessional involvement. An evaluation design was developed to evaluate training outcomes and to examine feasibility. To assess self-confidence, knowledge, skills, and attitudes, standardised surveys were applied directly after the training, and number of patients referred to the GOLD team were analysed by descriptive and non-parametric statistics. Furthermore, participants' open feedback was summarised by content.
Results:
A one day multi-disciplinary co-developed training run on 2 different occasion aimed to improve self-confidence via diverse teaching methods. Twenty-eight renal HPs participated. Via self-rating on Likert scales, improvements was reported especially in the overall item of self-confidence in initiating LDKT conversation, and sign-posting patients to GOLD (means: 4.3 on a 7-point scale with 1 = lowest value and 7 = highest value). Open feedback revealed a high appreciation for the training, especially the patient’s voice, the video chat with a kidney consultant, and the overall increase of awareness of the nuances in initiating LDKT conversation with people of African and Caribbean Heritage. Over 18 months, there has been a 23% increase in the number of patients referred or self-referred to GOLD.
Conclusions:
The co-developed training on inspiring renal healthcare professionals to initiate LDKT conversation meets a need and was perceived to be of added value. Future research should measure training effects with a validated instrument, including more participants, diverse participant groups, and a control group. Effects on patients referred to GOLD should be assessed.
I have no potential conflict of interest to disclose.
I did not use generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process.