Patient Information Sheet
Did you know that?
- 350,000 Adult Arkansans for Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) yet 9 out of 10 of them don’t know it! That leaves 312,000 unaware they have CKD.
- Diabetes and hypertension are the two leading causes of kidney disease.
- Kidney function can improve with life style changes and proper care.
Harps and UAMS have a CKD patient education study where you can learn what CKD is, what you need to know to protect your kidneys and what to expect if dialysis or a kidney transplant is ever needed. There are three arms of the study. Education methods are different in each arm. Each person or group of people (if more than one person is in the household or has close friends that want to study together) will be randomly assigned into an arm. If your group has more than one person, the group will select someone in the group to be a leader and that person will be responsible to teach the others in the group.
Everyone in the groups completes the same tests: a 12 question pre-test, an 11 question post-test and a program evaluation to see what was learned, how you liked the program and get your feedback. Everyone can individually get their CKD questions answered at their routine pharmacy visits. Everyone will get educational materials that will be explained to you including a CKD Action Plan that outlines actions you can take to protect your kidneys.
CKD education has normally been provided by kidney experts but in a UAMS pilot study, patients said they would have liked to have the educated earlier so they could have made changes earlier that would protect their kidneys and hopefully prevent them from needing dialysis. With the large number of Arkansans that are unaware they have CKD, there is a need for a larger pool providers that can provide CKD education. This study is testing the effectiveness of pharmacist and their staff using tools developed by kidney experts to educate high risk patients on CKD in several self-study models with varying levels of pharmacist involvement. It will also inform on the methods used and effectiveness of peer educators.
After reading this information, if you may be interested in this study, please talk to your pharmacist to see if you qualify for the study and to get any questions you may have answered. Please note that this study is available at participating pharmacies only. Check with your local pharmacy for details. Along with completing the tests described above, basic information will be collected from pharmacy records. Your decision to participate or not will not affect your present or future care at UAMS or your Pharmacy.
Only the investigator and people who make sure we do the research the right way, like the UAMS IRB and the federal Office for Human Research Protections would be able to see the study information. Authorization to use this health information will not expire. If you do not wish to participate in this study any longer or have any questions or concerns about this study, you can contact Andrea Easom at 501-772-0600. If you have questions about your rights as a research participant or want to talk to someone not connected to the study team, you may contact Institutional Review Board at 501-686-5667 for more information.