Annual Campaigns & Knowledge Translation

Visit kidneyhealthcheck.ca

Kidney Health Month

Every March, through Kidney Health Month campaigns and World Kidney Day, BC Renal promotes public awareness about how to keep our kidneys healthy, risk factors for kidney disease and early diagnosis.

In 2019 and again in 2020, we partnered with The Kidney Foundation of Canada - BC & Yukon Branch on a light-hearted video, print, transit, web, and social media campaign called, “Could you Lose 80%” to guide the public to KidneyHealthCheck.ca and BC Renal’s online Kidney Health Self-Assessment tool.

Available in English, Chinese and Punjabi, the tool provides a high-level assessment of kidney disease risk factors, and encourages those at higher risk to discuss kidney function testing (a simple blood test) with their primary care provider/family doctor.

2020 also saw a refreshed version of our 31-day #KidneyHealthChallenge campaign that provides a daily tip for keeping our kidneys healthy and comes with a downloadable one-page calendar and multi-page booklet.

Unfortunately, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic mid-March cut some of our 2020 efforts short, but we were able to implement a number of aspects of our campaigns and have renewed our plans for Kidney Health Month 2021.

For more about our variety of campaigns, see our Kidney Health Month web page at the link below.

Web info & resources: BCRenal.ca ⊲ Health Info ⊲ Prevention & Public Health ⊲ Kidney Health Month BCRenal.ca ⊲ Health Info ⊲ Prevention & Public Health ⊲ Kidney Health SelfAssessment

www.kidneyhealthcheck.ca

Emergency Preparedness

Updated resources complement disaster management plan Disasters such as an earthquake or power outage can impact us all, and especially people who require dialysis. During such an emergency, it helps to be prepared.

Throughout 2020, BC Renal worked with patient partners to update our Emergency Preparedness Handbook for patients. The resource was edited for clarity and expanded to include new sections, for example, addressing mental health during an emergency. . A variety of patient forms and handouts included in the booklet are also now available in Chinese and Punjabi.

As well, we created an Emergency Preparedness video that provides viewers with a short overview of what to do during a disaster.

Both resources will be officially launched on the BC Renal website this May during Emergency Preparedness Month.

Emergency Preparedness Month Every May, the BC Renal network promotes emergency preparedness to all kidney patients, staff and physicians. The aim of this initiative is to increase the community’s collective ability to respond in the event of a disaster.

BC Renal’s individual resources available for patients and care teams are complemented by the Provincial Renal Emergency Management and Business Continuity Plan that is maintained by our provincial Emergency Management Committee.

Web info & resources:

BCRenal.ca ⊲ Health Info ⊲ Managing My Care ⊲ Emergency Preparedness BCRenal.ca ⊲ Health Professionals ⊲ Professional Resources ⊲ Disaster Planning

Education and Knowledge Translation

At BC Renal, education and knowledge translation are very important components of our mandate. In 2020 and into 2021, we offered numerous clinical and patient education opportunities to our kidney health professionals, patient partners, and British Columbians living with kidney disease to help them be up-to-date on new research, resources and practices in care.

We also created a new web section called Learning and Events to provide a central location where all members of our kidney community can find links to new and recorded sessions, organized under the following categories: • Province Wide Rounds • Kidney Care Staff Education • CKD E-Learning for Primary Care • Patient Education Webinars • BC Kidney Days • Archive of Western Canada PD Days

New in 2020, due to COVID-19, we offered a series of expanded Province Wide Rounds specifically addressing various aspects of our response to the pandemic.

Virtual session "Positive Reflections: A BC Kidney Community Perspective on the COVID-19 Pandemic", BC Kidney Days Goes Virtual, 2020

20 20

Goes Virtual!

We also moved BC Kidney Days online and switched patient education from being a mix of in-person and online to 100 percent online with our new Patient Education Webinar series.

Together, these learning opportunities support our patients to have the best possible care and outcomes.

Web info & resources:

BCRenal.ca ⊲ Learning/Events

Research and Quality Improvement

Kidney health professionals across BC are engaged in a range of local, provincial and international research and quality improvement projects, many in collaboration with BC's educational institutions. Their work is frequently published in peer-reviewed journals.

Innovation and Research in Kidney Care

• 52 journal articles published by Division

Members • 12 journal articles linked to projects

40% Clinical Studies n=20

Database Studies n=26

17% 2019 & 2020

20% 2% 22% 2% 15% 22% 0% 9% 7% 4% CKD GN Dialysis Transplant PCKD

Web info & resources:

BCRenal.ca ⊲ Research

BCRenal.ca ⊲ Research ⊲ About Our Research - Publications