Renal Replacement Knowledge and Preferences for African Americans With Chronic Kidney Disease.
Akilah King, Fanny Y Lopez, Lydia Lissanu and 7 others
PMID 31919998WHAT IT FOUND
Most African American patients with advanced kidney disease knew little about home dialysis or deceased donor transplant.
They wanted physician guidance, and many were not yet thinking about treatment choices.
Key findings
01Among 22 CKD respondents, only 5 reported knowledge of peritoneal dialysis, and many reported no knowledge of in-centre haemodialysis, home haemodialysis or deceased donor transplant.
02Almost all CKD respondents were thinking about treatment rather than acting: 95% made thinking statements and 5% made action-oriented statements.
03Patients wanted physician-provided education and personalised recommendations, and input from patients who had experienced renal replacement therapy.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Seven of 35 interviews were incomplete and excluded, so analysed knowledge came from 28 patients. Participants were a convenience sample from one urban Midwest centre, mostly outpatient nephrology clinic, so they may not represent all African American patients with CKD. The ESRD group was only 6 patients and mostly transplant recipients. This limits what the study says about people still on dialysis. Only English-speaking patients without significant cognitive impairment were included. Knowledge was self-reported during interviews, not compared with what patients had previously been told. Qualitative interviews describe experiences and themes. They do not show that an educational intervention improves outcomes.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the low knowledge percentages as proof that a patient education programme would change treatment choices. This study described what patients reported knowing and wanting, and it did not test an intervention.