RSA eNews - CommuniquePlus May 2021

RSA Member Survey - YOUR Feedback

In February/March 2021 all 2000 RSA members were offered the opportunity to complete a survey about the RSA.  221 (10%) answered the survey – thank you.

Over the coming months CommuniquePlus will be providing readers with the results of this survey.   In this issue we focus on the WHY:

Top 6 reasons for becoming a member:

1.    Education and CPD points (89%)

2.    To be part of health community dedicated to people with kidney disease (77%)

3.    Access to WCEA (70%)

4.    Complimentary webinars (70%)

5.    Complimentary subscription to RSAJ (55%)

6.    Discounted conference registration (48%)

2021 RSA Annual Conference - The Countdown Begins!

Yes, the countdown to the 2021 RSA Annual Conference has begun.   How exciting, only 31 days until you can network and learn, explore the exhibition space, catch up with colleagues, chat to presenters and thoroughly enjoy the conference vibe!

For those of you who would rather enjoy the conference from the comfort of your home or office, not a problem, we have that covered too.  You can register and attend virtually.

Not registered, not a problem, you can register here.

Not seen the program, not a problem, it’s here.

Not heard about the workshops?  Not a problem:

Workshops are taking place on Saturday, 19 June as part of the Conference Program. Full Registration and Saturday Day Registration includes attendance to one of the below workshops. To attend, you must pre-book via the online registration form. Places are limited and allocated on a first in basis. You may only register for one workshop and may not swap into any other workshops during that day.

New for 2021, the recordings for the workshops (except for the Vascular Access workshop) will be available on-demand to all registration types until 16 August 2021. This means, when you return home after the conference you can watch any workshop you have missed or want to catch up on. You can also attend in person the workshop of greatest interest and catch up on the other workshops in your own time. 

Workshop 1 – Green Nephrology

Workshop 2 – A Practical Guide for Conducting Research

Workshop 3 – Supportive Care:  Maintain the Momentum

Workshop 4 – Prescribing Goal-directed Peritoneal Dialysis (PD)

Workshop 5 – Vascular Access “Connection for Life”

Members of the RSA Board and Organising Committee are looking forward to welcoming you to the 2021 RSA Annual Conference and Melbourne in 31 days’ time.   So why not pack your bag and come along, its going to be an awesome experience.

Registration & dinner tickets HERE...

Program HERE...

The 2021 RSA Annual Conference - Your Conference

RSA Calendar of Events - May/June 2021

Webinar: Anaemia Management in Chronic Kidney Disease and Live Q&A

Date:  Thursday, 27 May 2021
Duration:  5:00pm - 8:00pm (AEST)

Presenter:  Dr Leanne Brown

Program Objective:

The Anaemia Management in Chronic Kidney Disease webinar is designed to provide an overview of the fundamentals of renal anaemia and its implications for CKD patients, including management options. 

Registation Fee:
RSA Members - FREE of Charge 
Non-Members - AU$15.00 (Inc GST)

Not a RSA member?  Not a problem.  Join now!

CPD:  3 hours

RSA wish to thank our corporate sponsor for their generosity in supporting this event:

Webinar: Relevance of New Clinical Trials in Management of CKD

Date:  Monday, 31 May 2021
Duration:  7:00pm - 8:00pm (AEST)

Host:  Dr Leannne Brown
Presenter:  Professor Carol Pollock

Program Objective: 

  To ensure all colleagues can inform patients of opportunities to enrol in clinical trials.  To discuss new therapies on the horizon that may translate into beneficial treatments for patients with CKD, on dialysis or with kidney transplants.

Registation Fee:
RSA Members - FREE of Charge 
Non-Members - AU$15.00 (Inc GST)

Not a RSA member?  Not a problem.  Join now!

CPD:  1 hour

RSA wish to thank our corporate sponsor for their generosity in supporting this event:

Webinar: Anaemia Management in Chronic Kidney Disease and Live Q&A

Date:  Thursday, 3 June 2021
Duration:  5:00pm - 8:00pm (AEST)

Presenter:  Dr Leanne Brown

Program Objective:

The Anaemia Management in Chronic Kidney Disease webinar is designed to provide an overview of the fundamentals of renal anaemia and its implications for CKD patients, including management options. 

Registation Fee:
RSA Members - FREE of Charge 
Non-Members - AU$15.00 (Inc GST)

Not a RSA member?  Not a problem.  Join now!

CPD:  3 hours

RSA wish to thank our corporate sponsor for their generosity in supporting this event:

RSA Calendar of Events - Available here

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) - Early Detection & Screening Special Interest Group (SIG)

The RSA early CKD SIG formed in January 2020 as a forum for RSA members working in or interested in the area of early CKD to get together and discuss common issues and developments in the area of early CKD.   The group has grown to 31 members and there is representation from nurses working in stage 1-4 CKD across the spectrum from primary health care to tertiary hospitals as well as academics and nurses working in other areas of renal nursing with an interest in early CKD.

We have compiled resources such as contacts with primary health care where a lot of early CKD patients sit, patient resources such as kidney sick day action plans aimed at mitigating risk of acute kidney injury in patients with CKD.

Networking within the early CKD nursing community has been a great opportunity and we have had speakers present at 3 of our meetings. KHA presented on their renal ambassador program, PKD Australia presented on their organization and development of treatments in Early CKD, I presented some data from my research “Evaluating a training program for practice nurses in early identification and management of CKD". Looking forward we plan to have a presentation at every second meeting as well as continuing to discuss common issues and share resources regarding early CKD.

RSA members will an interest or involvement in the area of early CKD would be most welcome to join this important RSA SIG.  To join, simply email your EOI to execofficer@renalsociety.org.

Graeme Turner
Chair, RSA CKD - Early Detection & Screening SIG

PEAK - The inside scoop

PEAK is the Primary Care Education Advisory Committee for Kidney Health Australia.

The role of PEAK is to provide advice to the KHA primary care education program regarding best practice management of CKD and clinical or pharmacological developments in kidney disease. Additionally the committee helps to develop appropriate messaging for health professionals, assists in developing educational strategies for primary care education and progress management strategies of kidney disease in primary care. 

The membership of PEAK includes an RSA representative, several senior nephrologists,  GPs, community pharmacists, the KHA  Clinical Director, a representative from primary health care nursing and a consumer representative.

PEAK holds 3-4 meetings every year, previously 2-3 of these have been face-to-face, more recently the Committee has been meeting via Zoom.

Leanne Brown
RSA Vice President & PEAK Committee Member

PKD Australia - Latest Update

ADPKD in 2021 Webinar - Review

Last Week RSA hosted a successful webinar focusing on ADPKD in 2021 – how we got here, what we have done, and what is on the horizon presented by Professor Andrew Mallett which highlighted the advancing field of research and translation into best practice care that is creating hope for people with ADPKD.  Patient, Janice Creenaune shared her lived experience with PKD particularly that until connecting with PKD Australia she had never met anyone with PKD who was not a relative of hers. 

By listening to patients we have learnt that: 

• PKD is not just a disease of the kidneys
• PKD is a “lonely" disease - people with PKD rarely talk about the disease even with close friends
• there are some common symptoms while other symptoms are individual
• symptoms are more severe in some people and less so in others
• there is often a huge emotional burden attached to PKD
• PKD can be different within families and between families

Robert Gardos, chair of PKD Australia facilitated the meeting and highlighted how important it is for people with PKD and their carers to be aware of PKD Australia www.pkdaustralia.org, a source of the latest reliable information, patient blogs, community news and to learn about research opportunities and clinical trials.

Webinar recording available here...

Webinar: Therapeutic Horizons for PKD

Do you have questions about the treatment pipeline for PKD? Are you interested in clinical trials?

It has been nearly two years since the first drug to treat ADPKD, JINARC® (Tolvaptan) was made available on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and now there are more treatments than ever being investigated for PKD.

This free public seminar presented by Professor Carmel Hawley and hosted by PKD Australia will provide updated information and answer your questions on the therapeutic horizons for PKD.

Disclaimer: the information presented in this webinar is of a general nature and should not be taken as specific medical advice. You are encouraged to discuss any matters of concern specific to you or your family with your own medical professional.

Date: Tuesday, 25 May  
Time: 7pm (AEST)

Speaker:  Professor Carmel Hawley

Carmel Hawley MBBS, FRACP, M.Med.Sci, is a Senior Staff Specialist and Director of Haemodialysis Services at Princess Alexandra Hospital. In addition, she is an Associate Professor (A/P) of Medicine at the School of Medicine, University of Queensland and current (inaugural) Chair for the Australasian Kidney Trials network (AKTN) formed in 2005. Under A/P Hawley’s stewardship, AKTN’s research output is now recognised internationally for its quality and impact. This has driven major advances in the evidence base, that directly informs care and outcomes for people living with chronic kidney disease. A/P Hawley also holds a Master’s degree in Biostatistics, has expertise in trial management, methodology, design and conduct. She is currently involved in numerous industry-led and/or investigator initiated international and national clinical trials as either a Principal or Associate Investigator, providing leadership and direction to emerging early and mid-career researchers.

Everyone is welcome! Please encourage your friends, family or medical connections to join PKD Australia.

Registration...

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Kidney Health Australia - Latest Update

COVID-19 Vaccine Update

As part of the ANZSN COVID-19 working group, Kidney Health Australia (KHA) are helping to ensure the kidney community are safe during this pandemic. KHA recommend that people with kidney disease get vaccinated. It is advised that people speak with their treating doctor about the COVID-19 vaccine and what will be best for their health.

KHA support the following information and recommendations for people living with kidney disease as made by the COVID-19 National Transplantation and Donation Rapid Response Taskforce, read here.

Updated resource – An Introduction to Peritoneal Dialysis

Check out the newly updated consumer booklet, An introduction to Peritoneal Dialysis. You can order the booklet via kidney.org.au/shop or download a copy kidney.org.au/resources. 

Contact Resources@kidney.org.au for bulk orders and more information.          

Keep an eye out for more KHA "Introduction to" booklet series updates.

Upcoming Webinar

Chronic Kidney Disease & Acute Kidney Injury

Tuesday 18 May, 2021 @7.30pm AEST
Dr Karen Dwyer, Clinical Director, Kidney Health Australia

KHA webinars are available for free and suitable for Health Professionals. You can also access past webinars here.

Kidney Health New Zealand - Latest Update

Kidney Health New Zealand supported the setup of a donor support group exactly a year ago. Kidney Donor Whanau.

Kidney Donor Whanau can provide face to face, online or phone connection to another donor, or someone that considers donating. The support network is also a home for donors’ stories and to feature upcoming events like Q&As with medical professionals and the opportunity to hear the journeys of donors and their recipients first-hand. The support network is backed by Kidney Health New Zealand and medical professionals.  This support groups is getting stronger and has been proven very successful. 

For more information and to watch: https://www.kidney.health.nz/Patient-Support/Kidney-Donor-Whanau/

Flyer...

Please take a moment....   CommuniquePlus readers are asked to take a moment to read the sponsor message below.  The RSA could not provide the educational opportunities we do without the support of our sponsors.  This is our opportunity to support them, so please read the message below and click through to more information on the PHILIPS website.   Thank you.

WCEA 24-7 Online Learning Platform

If you have an education topic suggestion and would like to volunteer to present a webinar or other format on this topic, then we want to hear from you!   Please contact the office and tell us about your suggestion.

Journal club articles

All RSA Journal club articles are kindly facilitated by Joanne Kok.  Thank you Joanne!

Did you know that every two months an article is selected,  reviewed and 10 questions are developed that assess your understanding of the article? Journal club articles are assigned a 1 hour CPD point. 

There is an additional way to use the journal club and that is to get a journal club started in the place that you work. Read and discuss the article amongst your group (someone will need to access the article) and review the questions. Afterwards RSA members can log-on individually and complete the question and answer section to get their CPD point.

If your unit already has a journal club we would love to hear from you about how this operates and what benefit your staff get from it.   Feel free to email your story and perhaps a photo of your Journal Club to CommuniquePlus.

Warm regards

Debbie Fortnum
RSA Co-Vice President Education/Member Engagement

WCEA - FREE ACCESS TO RSA MEMBERS

CARI Guidelines Update

The new CARI website is available here.

EDTNA/ERCA - THE RSA NEEDS YOU!

The RSA are looking for a very special person to take on the very exciting and interesting role of EDTNA/ERCA Brand Ambassador for Australia and New Zealand.

The key criteria for this role is that you must be a current RSA member and most importantly enjoy global networking and travel because the Brand Ambassador is supported to attend the EDTNA/ERCA conference!

You DO NOT need to have been OR be an EDTNA/ERCA member.   You can simply join up when you take on the Brand Ambassador role.

Does that sound like you?   If yes, please email your expression of interest to execofficer@renalsociety.org.

Conference fees seem expensive. What costs are included in the conference fees?

Conference costs include venue hire, catering, welcome drinks, a company to plan and host, IT support (and nowadays an app as well as live streaming) invited plenary speaker benefits and much more. Luckily for attendees sponsorship by companies supports some of these costs, reducing the fees. In recent years the dinner is an optional additional cost to allow members the choice of spending money on a social event or not. The aim of a conference budget is to break even preferably with a small profit (<10%) that goes back to other member benefits. Some years it makes a profit and others it does not. The organising committee work hard to ensure that costs are kept to a minimum and we always ensure members have access to the cheapest attendance rate with the early bird registration option.

RSA 2021 Annual Conference more information...