The CKD Consortium: Evaluation of chronic kidney disease identification and management in primary care in three jurisdictions across Australia
Summary:
Consortium partners included Menzies School of Health Research, Western Health, Melbourne, and the University of Tasmania. This project evaluated progress in the identification and management of CKD in primary care in the Northern Territory, Tasmania and Victoria: three disparate populations across urban, rural and remote Australia, including the highest risk non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal communities in disadvantaged areas. The overall aim of the consortium was to provide an overview of CKD patient care in primary health services in 3 jurisdictions comparing clinical decision systems in the Northern Territory (Territory Kidney Care, CD-IMPACT in Victoria, and data linkage CKD TASLink in Tasmania), therefore better informing the guidelines and program planning for improvement of care for people with CKD.
Consortium partners built on established partnerships with primary and specialist care networks in each jurisdiction. This improved support and quality of care for people with CKD. It established a collaborative research and data-driven approach to CKD identification and management in primary care, and shared learnings between partners and beyond that enabled direct translation of service improvements into clinical care.
Objectives:
- Examine temporal trends in the identification and management of CKD primary health care as per the guidelines (local or national) in each jurisdiction.
- Examine the barriers and enablers for the integration of a clinical support system or linkage output within primary health care services.
- Study the cost-effectiveness of the implementation of systems of care that incorporate such tools.
- Disseminate learnings through primary and specialist care networks.
This study used large-scale existing datasets with ethical and data custodian approval to minimise the burden of research on patients and health systems. Results were disseminated through specialist and primary health care networks.
Key staff:
Project dates:
Funders:
- Australian Government Department of Health
Collaborators:
- Professor Matthew Jose, University of Tasmania
- A/Prof Craig Nelson, Director, Western Health Chronic Disease Alliance, Victoria & University of Melbourne