The Kidney Awareness Program is a very important service which will be offered within the community in order to identify persons who may be at risk of Chronic kidney disease.
It includes KAP (Kidney Awareness Program) days in which basic screening tests will be performed on the general public to identify persons at risk of Chronic Renal Failure.
These patients will then be added to a database, and follow-up appointments will be made to monitor and assist these patients where necessary.
The general tests could include blood pressure, glucose monitoring, and specific blood tests like Hb and chemical tests.
The advantages of the KAP program are summarised by the following:
- Patients often feel more involved in the decisions that need to be made about their condition if they have a better understanding of it and the treatments available to them.
- Our Kidney Awareness Program is for all patients with chronic kidney failure, as well as their families, who have been identified with Chronic Renal Failure.
- These patients will have to start dialysis and need to make a decision - together with their doctor - on which treatment modality would suit them best.
The information shared with the patient and their family include the following important information:
How healthy kidneys function and how disease-related changes can affect renal function
- The various treatment options that are available including peritoneal dialysis, haemodialysis and transplantation.
- The respective advantages and disadvantages of each treatment option
- Basic information on medications that may be required and diet and fluid restrictions
The Kidney Awareness program is important in that it provides support to the patient and their families, it allows the patient to make informed decisions on the future of their treatment, it allows the patient to build a relationship of trust with the Dialysis Team and it prevents unnecessary admissions to hospital with Acute Renal Failure.