Educating community providers changes beliefs towards caring for the ESRD patient.
End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) patients often have comorbid conditions necessitating the involvement of multiple professionals from various settings such as dialysis centers, primary care and skilled nursing facilities, group homes, mental health, rehabilitation, and home health care agencies. This provision of services can be fragmented and may be impeded by a lack of knowledge regarding the specific needs of renal patients. "A Caring Community: An Integrated Approach to Meeting the Needs of the Renal Patient" is a multidisciplinary professional education program which has been shown to change the beliefs of community providers regarding ESRD patients. Program attendee survey responses were measured in accordance with a modified Health Belief Model. This report identifies the need and demand for interdisciplinary renal education and the potential benefits of such a community-wide intervention and makes recommendations for future research.
Arthur
T
T
Gambro Healthcare West Inglewood, Los Angeles, CA 90064, USA. teriarthur@aol.com
Zalemski
S
S
Giermek
D
D
Lamb
C
C
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003153:Community Health Services; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000628:therapy*