Preparing For a Disaster: Renal community engages in planning
The Emergency Management and Business Continuity (EMBC) committee, chaired by Bill Kane (Vancouver Island Health) and Edith Davidson (Providence Health Care), was formed in November 2007. The committee’s mandate is to develop a provincial disaster plan for renal services and to ensure its fit within the provincial emergency management system. The committee is also tasked with helping individual renal programs develop disaster management plan that can be integrated with both their health authority’s disaster plan and the EMBC’s provincial plan. Strategic Plan Update: Increasing our Organizational EffectivenessIn the February issue of Renal News we introduced our new strategic plan, which confirms our vision of "an innovative, integrated health system resulting in outstanding care for patients living with kidney disease" and our mission to "integrate knowledge and practice for better kidney health." Our four strategic priorities are:
Renal Agency Steps Forward
PD Workshop Stimulates InterestJudging from the response to a recent workshop, there is strong and growing interest around the province in offering peritoneal dialysis (PD) as an option in residential care settings. The PD in Residential Care workshop, held May 9 in Delta, attracted 40 participants from renal programs in every health authority. The workshop included presentations from three care facilities that currently offer PD: Hawthorne (Port Coquitlam), Three Links (Vancouver) and Delta View in Delta, which hosted the event. PROMIS UpdateThis fall, the IM/IS (information management/information systems) steering committee will evolve into a renal information management council, with representatives from a variety of key Renal Agency committees. The change is based on input received from the community as well as to align with BCPRA’s current strategic planning process. The goal is to continue to provide a formal and sustainable mechanism by which the health authority renal programs can identify IM/IS issues and prioritize needs. Good Response to Renal Agency DVDs
The DVD Patient to Patient: Renal Care in BC was completed in November 2007 and features renal patients talking about their experiences with kidney disease. The program, which offers five language options, includes sections on living with kidney disease before dialysis, the various dialysis options, kidney transplant, and conservative care. The Renal Agency’s most recent DVD, Peritoneal Dialysis Training, was completed in March 2008 and more than 430 copies have been distributed to patients through their peritoneal dialysis (PD) caregivers province-wide. Copies have also been sent to programs across Canada through Baxter. Leslie Milan: Southbound but not Outbound from Renal CareAfter 28 years at what is now Northern Health, renal nurse Leslie Milan is packing her bags and heading south. Despite leaving Fort St. John, however, she’s not quite ready to leave renal care. Her move takes her to Creston, where she’ll take up a position as staff nurse on a community dialysis unit. Pharmacy & Formulary
A new strategy for managing the use of expensive phosphate binder medications involves an application process and requires that renal patients meet specific criteria before they are approved to receive the drugs. The pharmacy and formulary review committee approved the new strategy for the drugs Sevelamer and Lanthanum in May in view of a lack of clinical outcomes data in the literature. Click here for more pharmacy and formulary updates Profiles in Kidney Care: Career Satisfaction
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Experts are clear that an earthquake in BC is not a question of ‘if,’ but ‘when.’ To ensure the unique needs of renal patients are met in the event of an earthquake – or any other disaster – a multi-disciplinary committee with representation from all health authorities is developing a renal-focused emergency plan.
Renal patient Ann Yuk Ling Lo of Vancouver is featured in the Provincial Health Services Authority’s latest annual Steps Forward report. Ann, a Vancouver Coastal Health PD patient, appears in the piece about our Patient to Patient: Kidney Care in BC instructional DVD. Click here to view the 
Patients and renal units throughout BC have expressed strong interest in two new DVDs about renal care recently produced with the support of the Renal Agency.
Updates: New Drug Approval Process, Pharmacy "Road Show," Anemia Care and Med Rec
Providence Health Care’s Nicole Gorman first encountered renal care during her undergraduate nursing degree. One of her instructors, a hemodialysis nurse, was looking for students to help with a literature review for a research project. Nicole signed on, met a kidney patient, and was pretty well hooked.
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Copyright ©2007 BC Provincial Renal Agency. An Agency of the Provincial PHSA improves the health of British Columbians by seeking province-wide solutions to specialized health care needs in collaboration with BC health authorities and other partners. For more information, visit www.phsa.ca |
