QI Repository
This resource aims to allow for increased awareness on the QI projects being done in Canada, reduce project redundancy, and foster collaboration across sites and provinces. If you would like to have your project listed in the QI Repository, please click here to submit your project for inclusion.
Site/Region | Name | Phone | Topic | Project Description | Aim Statement | Project Lead Name | Project Lead Position/Title | Project contact method | Project Contact Phone | Project Status | Conclusions | Notes | Supporting Documentation / Files | Project Contact | DETAILED VIEW | |
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BC | Krishna Poinen | kpoinen@gmail.com | 1-604-505-9733 | HHD, PD | Cross-sectional survey of multidisciplinary renal team members across five renal programs in British Columbia, Canada. The survey contained questions regarding primary work area, modality preference, patient and system factors that may influence modality candidacy, perceived knowledge of home therapies and need for further education. | Our objective was to evaluate the perceptions of all renal team members towards home dialysis therapies. | Krishna Poinen | MD | Email & Phone | 1-604-505-9733 | Completed | The majority of multidisciplinary team members, including allied health staff, acknowledged the benefits of home therapies. There were significant discrepancies amongst team members regarding patient/system-level factors that may impact home therapies candidacy. Structured, focused and repeated education sessions for all renal team members may help to address misperceptions around factors that influence modality candidacy. | Kidney360. DOI https://doi.org/10.34067/KID.0006222020 | kpoinen@gmail.com | ||
ON | Sam Silver | Samuel.silver@queensu.ca | 613-549-6666 x4895 | HD | Routine labs changed from Q-4 weeks to Q-6 weeks | To decrease the frequency of HD labs without affecting patient outcomes or quality of care | Sam Silver/Ed Ilescu N/A | MD | Completed | The reduced lab frequency resulted in cost-savings to the dialysis program, without affecting anemia or phosphate targets. There was also no change in all-cause mortality. This may allow the healthcare team to focus less on labs and more on other health issues that matter to patients (e.g., symptom control) | Please refer to attached publications | fx1_lrg.pdfSilver-2019-Routine-laboratory-testing-every-v.pdf | Samuel.silver@queensu.ca | |||
ON | Sam Silver | Samuel.silver@queensu.ca | 613-549-6666 x4895 | HD | Creation of dedicated chairs in the in-centre unit for patients new to dialysis. This includes 1:1 nursing care and early follow-up with modality educator, access nurse, dietician, and pharmacist. Patients are not moved out of this area until long-term kidney plan has been made and patient is clinically stable, as per physician assessment. | To increase the # of patients starting home dialysis | Sam Silver/Claire Kennedy N/A | MD | Ongoing | This model of care was feasible in a dialysis unit without dedication of additional resources. Ideally, new starts could be dialyzed in their own separate room if resources permit. Next steps include using the model to improve mental health and prevent rehospitalizations during the transition to dialysis. | Please refer to CSN poster for further details | hamidi-et-al-2023-the-feasibility-of-a-transitional-care-unit-for-patients-newly-started-on-in-center-hemodialysis-a.pdfTCU-Poster.pdf | Samuel.silver@queensu.ca | |||
AB | Priyanka Mysore | pmysore@hsc.mb.ca | 2045886113 | HD | Multifaceted QI initiative to reduce lab test overuse on the nephrology ward | Reduce the overuse of 'daily' lab tests and routine creatinines byt 20% on chronic dialysis patients admitted to the nephrology ward over 3 months | Priyanka/Pam Mysore/Mathura | QI lead | Completed | We successfully reduced the use of routine creatinines and 'daily' lab orders with sequential PDSA cycles. | Project took place 2017-2018. | pmysore@hsc.mb.ca | ||||
AB | Veronica Hammer | veronica.hammer@albertahealthservices.ca | (403) 944-2146 | PD | Retrospective chart review to describe participants and outcomes in people who utilized aPD in AKC-S since its inception in 2011 to December 31, 2021 | To describe the outcomes of participants of an aPD program in Alberta, Canada. | Veronica Hammer | Project Lead | Completed | Assisted peritoneal dialysis provides a service to patients who are unable to perform PD independently. It is an excellent alternative to in-center hemodialysis which not only allows patients to maintain their independence in the community, but it can facilitate the uptake of independent PD in a significant proportion of participants | On average, patients stayed on aPD for 407 ± 642 days. Reasons for discontinuing aPD included death (27.4%), switching to hemodialysis (26.7%), becoming independent on peritoneal dialysis (24.4%), transplant (3%), palliative care (3%), and relocating outside the program catchment area (3.7%). Among those who switched to independent PD, they maintained it for an additional 427 ± 400 days. | P-016-HAMMER_Veronica.pdf | veronica.hammer@albertahealthservices.ca | |||
QC | Daniel Blum | daniel.blum@mcgill.ca | 5147582586 | HD | A carefully selected subset of dialysis patients may tolerate relative underdialysis for a period of time, thus limiting exposure risk during times of heightened viral transmission during the pandemic. | Prevent nosocomial transmission of COVID-19 in hemodialysis recipients by limiting dialysis frequency in order to reduce exposure risk | Daniel Blum | Nephrologist | Completed | A carefully selected subset of chronic HD recipients can tolerate relative underdialysis for a 2-3 month duration. Rigorous surveillance and interdisciplinary interventions can prolong the duration that underdialysis is tolerated for. | Implementing a permissive underdialysis strategy early during the pandemic provided high-value care that was patient-centered, efficient, and safe. This strategy was utilized in the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, and helped to prevent nosocomial transmission of the pandemic respiratory virus during periods of heightened viral transmission. Complications are as expected and included volume overload, hyperkalemia, and mild uremic symptoms, which were manageable. Over 400 hospital encounters were spared using this strategy. See the attached slideset for further details. | Permissive-Underdialysis-slides-for-CSN.pdf | daniel.blum@mcgill.ca | |||
ON | Parnian Riaz | parnianriaz92@gmail.com | 1905-522-1155 | CKD | We used an interrupted time series design to conduct this quality improvement study. Three interventions were implemented from November 16, 2021, to February 28, 2022: posting education posters in general nephrology clinics that outlined the ORN referral criteria, auditing and providing feedback to individual nephrologists regarding their referral rates, and implementing nurse-generated MCKC referrals as part of general nephrology clinic workflow. | The primary outcome measure was the percentage of eligible patients referred at each eligible visit in 2-week intervals. The process measure was the percentage of nursing-led referrals created and accepted. The balancing measure was MCKC clinic wait times. We monitored these measures from March 1 to September 15, 2022. | Parnian Riaz | Project Lead | Completed | With interventions that involved multidisciplinary collaboration, we successfully improved our MCKC referral rate and are closer to reaching the provincial target. | Provincial data provided by ORN demonstrated that from January 1 –December 31, 2021, only 51% of eligible patients were referred to MCKC. After our interventions, the mean referral rate for eligible patients at each visit increased from 9.9% to 31.3% and the overall referral rate increased from 51% to 68%. Our process measure showed that the mean completion rate for nursing-based referrals was 93.1% and the physician acceptance rate for referrals was 57.6%. The wait time for MCKC clinics did not change during this time. |
P-043-RIAZ_Parnian.pdf | parnianriaz92@gmail.com | |||
MB | Izabella Supel | umsupel@myumanitoba.ca | 1204-787-1524 | HD | Standardized pre-procedural work up for fistulograms and tunnelled catheters (F/TC) lacks supporting evidence to minimize adverse events, and may be a source of unnecessary resource use. With input from all stakeholders, a value stream map was created removing any non-value-added steps, including CXRs and ECGs. Our first PDSA cycle eliminated CXRs and ECGs from the process for all in centre hemodialysis patients at our centre. After three months, the second PDSA cycle expanded our intervention to outpatient clinics, home hemodialysis, and all satellite units. A survey was administered to stakeholders to ascertain satisfaction with the revised process | To determine if elimination of CXRs and ECGs from preprocedural workup for F/TC will have adverse effects, improve workplace efficiency, and yield cost-savings. | Izabella Supel | Project Lead | Completed | F/TC are considered lower-risk procedures and we observed that it is safe to eliminate pre-procedural workup of CXR and ECGs at our local level. Elimination of these tests also reduced staff workload and has led to cost savings. | CXRs and ECGs elimination showed cost savings, no further adverse effects, and was perceived as a positive change by stakeholders | P-044-SUPEL_Izabella.pdf | umsupel@myumanitoba.ca | |||
AB | Warda Munawar | wardamunawar@hotmail.com | 1403-210-6766 | HD | Comparing traditional dialysis unit vs transitional unit on patient experience via GAD-7 and PHQ-9 scores | To compare patient-reported outcome measures for anxiety (GAD-7) and depression (PHQ-9) between the DTU and a traditional facility-based HD unit (HDU). | Warda Munawar | Project Lead | Completed | Patients have a high degree of anxiety and depressive symptoms at HD initiation, which improve with time. There was no difference in depression or anxiety symptoms between DTU and HDU. Further studies need to characterize the support needs for people initiating dialysis. | Of a total of 26 DTU and 26 HDU participants, both had significant improvement in GAD-7 and PHQ-9 scores at 2 weeks, potentially more home therapies transitions at 6 months with DTUs | P-061-MUNAWAR_Warda.pdf | wardamunawar@hotmail.com | |||
MB | Anirudh Agarwal | anirudh.k.agarwal@gmail.com | 1204-787-1524 | CKD | Literature review for native renal biopsy best practices, and creation of a new evidence-based renal biopsy package to reduce unnecessary testing/redundancies | (1) Identify guidelines and evidence-based practices which should guide renal biopsies (2) Liaising with stakeholders: develop a new renal biopsy package to reduce unnecessary testing, redundancies, and evidence-based (3) Evaluate the efficacy of the new package. | Anirudh Agarwal | Project Lead | Ongoing | At this stage, the process of implementing the forms is underway, and data collection and analysis are pending | Literature has identified certain parameters for reduction of renal biopsy complications; novel renal biopsy package in planning stages | P-062-AGARWAL_Anirudh.pdf | anirudh.k.agarwal@gmail.com | |||
ON | Lisa Dubrofsky | lisa.dubrofsky@wchospital.ca | 4167027116 | CKD | Build of a tool embedded in EMR for education, reminder and communication of home BP monitoring prior to appointments | At least 50% of patients with hypertension performing home blood pressure monitoring on at least 3 days (providing at minimum 6 readings) prior to MD appointments. | Lisa Dubrofsky | MD | Ongoing | pending | Initial needs assessment complete, audit ongoing and build of tool within EPIC ongoing | lisa.dubrofsky@wchospital.ca | ||||
AB | Emily Christie | eachrist@ualberta.ca | 7807094442 | Renal Transplant | Retrospective review of cases of positive urine culture within first 4-6 weeks post renal transplant, review interventions and outcomes | Identify patients at risk for complications, provide guidance on management of asymptomatic bacteriuria in early post transplant care | Emily Christie | Nephrologist | Ongoing | pending | Dr Max Levine, Dr Madhi Beydoun, Dr Elise Potvin | eachrist@ualberta.ca | ||||
ON | Bourne Augsute | bourne.auguste@sunnybrook.ca | 416-480-6100 ext 5590 | CKD, Home Dialysis | The study focused on whether teaching patients more about their dialysis options would encourage them to choose home dialysis. A new system was introduced at an academic hospital in Toronto, requiring doctors to refer patients with advanced kidney disease to educational sessions. The aim was to see if patients who learned more about dialysis would be more likely to manage their treatment at home. The result was more patients received these educational sessions, but this did not lead to more of them choosing home dialysis. Future research must investigate what other factors influence patients' decisions to consider dialysis treatments at home. | The primary aim was to increase the proportion of prevalent educated patients with a KFRE of ≥ 40% by 75% from baseline (goal of at least 60% prevalent patients educated) by June 30, 2023. | Bourne Auguste | MD | Completed | We succeeded in boosting education rates but failed to achieve higher home dialysis choice rates, possibly due to complexity involved in modality choices. We plan to further investigate the factors influencing patient choices during modality education to better promote home dialysis selection. | See link for full paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xkme.2024.100898 | [] | bourne.auguste@sunnybrook.ca | |||
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