HEALTH PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCES OF KIDNEY TRANSPLANTATION IN AUSTRALIA
TARA WATTERS1,2, NICOLE SCHOLES-ROBERTSON3, BEVERLEY GLASS1, ANDREW MALLETT4,5
1College of Medicine & Dentistry, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia, 2Department of Renal Medicine, Cairns Hospital, Cairns, Australia, 3Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, 4Department of Renal Medicine, Townsville University Hospital, Townsville, Australia, 5Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Aim: To determine the attitudes and opinions of Australian kidney transplant health professionals regarding current transplant processes and how to improve experiences and clinical outcomes for kidney transplant recipients from regional, rural, or remote areas.
Background: Despite higher rates of chronic kidney disease and kidney failure in rural and remote populations, these patients are less likely to be wait-listed for or receive a kidney transplant. Additional barriers to kidney transplantation are primarily associated with the need to travel or relocate to metropolitan areas where medical testing and/or transplantation facilities are located.
Methods: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted with health professionals involved in the provision of care to potential or actual kidney transplant recipients from regional, rural, or remote areas. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, while a descriptive thematic method was used to analyse qualitative data.
Results: Australian health professionals (82) including nephrologists (37%), nursing staff (24%), clinical pharmacists (20%) and others (19%) participated, with 44% working in metropolitan, 41% in regional and 15% in rural or remote areas. Almost all (97%) participants agreed that receiving psychosocial support from peers would be beneficial for potential transplant recipients, while 93% of nephrologists and 87% of pharmacists supported point-of-care testing for therapeutic drug monitoring. Prevalent themes identified include increased financial support for travel and accommodation, outreach visits by the transplant team, consolidation of work-up testing, and improving access to medication supply.
Conclusions: Multiple aspects of current kidney transplant processes in Australia could be optimised to improve patient experiences and clinical outcomes for regional, rural, and remote kidney transplant recipients. A qualitative interview study is currently underway to explore in depth these survey findings.
Biography:
Tara Watters is a senior clinical pharmacist working within the Department of Renal Medicine at Cairns Hospital for almost 8 years. She has extensive experience providing clinical pharmacy services to indigenous, rural, and remote patient populations in North Queensland. Tara is a current PhD candidate with the College of Medicine and Dentistry at James Cook University Townsville. The focus of Tara’s research is looking at how the experiences and clinical outcomes for kidney transplant recipients from regional, rural, and remote areas can be improved through the development of an intervention to enhance service delivery of a new regional transplant service.