From the Dallas South News Wire (Methodist Health System)

Dialysis professionals from across the Metroplex and as far away as the Texas Panhandle recently attended the Methodist Dallas Transplant Institute’s first Explore Transplant Workshop. Explore Transplant is a revolutionary research-based education program designed to improve dialysis providers’ ability to deliver transplant education to patients and help more patients make informed choices regarding transplantation and living donation.

Methodist Dallas is the first center in the South to present the program and the only site in the South with access to the program materials. Although the program is in high demand nationwide, Methodist Dallas is only the second presentation site selected in the USA outside of the original research area. Explore Transplant meets the 2008 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) guidelines requiring dialysis centers to provide transplant education to patients. It has also been shown to increase the amount of patients applying for transplant by 30 percent.

The two one-day workshops had several goals including explaining the transplant process from the perspective of the recipient and living donor, and listing criteria for kidney transplantation eligibility at Methodist Dallas Transplant Institute. The program also explores patient and system barriers to transplant education occurring in dialysis facilities and shows how to assess the patient’s stage of readiness to pursue transplantation. Participants leave the workshop armed with patient education resources and patient tracking tools to support the development of their own transplant education plan. The workshop was free and CEU’s were provided.

“We educated over 120 providers from 63 dialysis centers who can now utilize the program with their patients. We hope that this will have a positive impact on the lives of those receiving the education and may extend their lifetimes” says Kitsy Jones, RN, BSN, Outreach Coordinator for the Kidney Transplant Program at Methodist Dallas Medical Center.

The workshop was conducted by Amy Waterman, PhD, the creator or the Explore Transplant Program and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, and Christina Goalby, MSW, Explore Transplant Program Manager and experienced dialysis center social worker. An expert panel discussion was conducted by several members of the Methodist Dallas transplant team.