title: Development of a chronic kidney disease patient navigator program.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a public health problem and there is a scarcity of type 2 CKD translational research that incorporates educational tools. Patient navigators have been shown to be effective at reducing disparities and improving outcomes in the oncology field. We describe the creation of a CKD Patient Navigator program designed to help coordinate care, address system-barriers, and educate/motivate patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The conceptual framework for the CKD Patient Navigator Program is rooted in the Chronic Care Model that has a main goal of high-quality chronic disease management. Our established multidisciplinary CKD research team enlisted new members from information technology and data management to help create the program. It encompassed three phases: hiring, training, and implementation. For hiring, we wanted a non-medical or lay person with a college degree that possessed strong interpersonal skills and experience in a service-orientated field. For training, there were three key areas: general patient navigator training, CKD education, and electronic health record (EHR) training. For implementation, we defined barriers of care and created EHR templates for which pertinent study data could be extracted.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We have hired two CKD patient navigators who will be responsible for navigating CKD patients enrolled in a clinical trial. They have undergone training in general patient navigation, specific CKD education through directed readings and clinical shadowing, as well as EHR and other patient related privacy and research training.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The need for novel approaches like our CKD patient navigator program designed to impact CKD care is vital and should utilize team-based care and health information technology given the changing landscape of our health systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine, Medicine Institute, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue- G10, Cleveland, OH, USA. jollys@ccf.org.
authors.forename: Stacey E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Jolly
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA. navanes@ccf.org.
authors.forename: Sankar D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Navaneethan
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA. ScholdJ@ccf.org.|Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA. ScholdJ@ccf.org.
authors.forename: Jesse D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Schold
authors.affiliation: Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA. arrigas@ccf.org.
authors.forename: Susana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arrigain
authors.affiliation: Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA. konigv@ccf.org.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Konig
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA. burrucy@ccf.org.
authors.forename: Yvette K
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Burrucker
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA. hylandj@ccf.org.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hyland
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA. dannp@ccf.org.
authors.forename: Priscilla
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dann
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA. tuckyb@ccf.org.
authors.forename: Barbara H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Tucky
authors.affiliation: Health Informatics Program, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA. jsharp@himss.org.
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Sharp
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA. nallyj@ccf.org.
authors.forename: Joseph V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Nally
mesh_terms: D057286:Electronic Health Records; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D009042:Motivation; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D062526:Patient Navigation / Q000379:methods*; D010560:Personnel Selection; D016730:Program Development; D051436:Renal Insufficiency, Chronic / Q000628:therapy*