Nurse Practitioner Care Compared with Primary Care or Nephrologist Care in Early CKD.

BACKGROUND: Early interventions in CKD have been shown to improve health outcomes; however, gaps in access to nephrology care remain common. Nurse practitioners can improve access to care; however, the quality and outcomes of nurse practitioner care for CKD are uncertain. METHODS: In this propensity score-matched cohort study, patients with CKD meeting criteria for nurse practitioner care were matched 1:1 on their propensity scores for ( 1 ) nurse practitioner care versus primary care alone and ( 2 ) nurse practitioner versus nephrologist care. Processes of care were measured within 1 year after cohort entry, and clinical outcomes were measured over 5 years of follow-up and compared between propensity score-matched groups. RESULTS: A total of 961 (99%) patients from the nurse practitioner clinic were matched on their propensity score to 961 (1%) patients receiving primary care only while 969 (100%) patients from the nurse practitioner clinic were matched to 969 (7%) patients receiving nephrologist care. After matching to patients receiving primary care alone, those receiving nurse practitioner care had greater use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blocker (82% versus 79%; absolute differences [ADs] 3.4% [95% confidence interval, 0.0% to 6.9%]) and statins (75% versus 66%; AD 9.7% [5.8% to 13.6%]), fewer prescriptions of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (10% versus 17%; AD -7.2% [-10.4% to -4.2%]), greater eGFR and albuminuria monitoring, and lower rates of all-cause hospitalization (34.1 versus 43.3; rate difference -9.2 [-14.7 to -3.8] per 100 person-years) and all-cause mortality (3.3 versus 6.0; rate difference -2.7 [-3.6 to -1.7] per 100 person-years). When matched to patients receiving nephrologist care, those receiving nurse practitioner care were also more likely to be prescribed angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers and statins, with no difference in the risks of experiencing adverse clinical outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Nurse practitioner care for patients with CKD was associated with better guideline-concordant care than primary care alone or nephrologist care, with clinical outcomes that were better than or equivalent to primary care alone and similar to those with care by nephrologists. PODCAST: This article contains a podcast at https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/www.asn-online.org/media/podcast/CJASN/2023_12_08_CJN0000000000000305.mp3.

Enhancing primary care capacity in chronic kidney disease management: a quality improvement educational initiative.

BACKGROUND: Gaps in identification, medical management and appropriate referral for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are evident. OBJECTIVE: We designed and implemented an interactive educational intervention (accredited workshop) to improve primary care providers' awareness of tools to support guideline-concordant CKD management. DESIGN: We used the Kern method to design the educational intervention and targeted the accredited workshops to primary care team members (physicians, nurses and allied health) in Alberta, Canada. We conducted anonymous pre-workshop and post-workshop surveys to identify practice-specific barriers to care, identify potential solutions, and evaluate provider confidence pre-intervention and post-intervention. We used non-parametric statistics to analyse Likert-type survey data and descriptive content analysis to categorise responses to open-ended survey questions. RESULTS: We delivered 12 workshops to 114 providers from September 2017 through March 2019. Significant improvements (p<0.001) in confidence to appropriately identify, manage and refer patients with CKD were observed. Participants identified several patient-level, provider-level, and system-level barriers and potential solutions to care for patients with CKD; the majority of these barriers were addressed in the interactive workshop. CONCLUSIONS: The Kern model was an effective methodology to design and implement an educational intervention to improve providers' confidence in managing patients with CKD in primary care. Future research is needed to determine if these perceived knowledge and confidence improvements affect patient outcomes and whether improvements are sustained long term.

Assessment of the Siksika chronic disease nephropathy-prevention clinic.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if a community-based multifactorial intervention clinic led by a nurse practitioner would improve management of First Nations people at risk of developing chronic kidney disease. DESIGN: Qualitative descriptive study. SETTING: A nephropathy-prevention clinic in Siksika Nation, Alta. PARTICIPANTS: First Nations people with diabetes, hypertension, or dyslipidemia who were referred to the clinic. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Changes in blood pressure (BP), hemoglobin A(1c), and low-density lipoprotein levels, as well as in use of antiplatelet therapy, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker medications, and statin therapy. RESULTS: Members of the Siksika Nation were treated according to clinical practice guidelines. A total of 78 patients had at least 2 visits to the clinic and were included in this analysis (61.5% were women; mean age 56 years). Among those initially above target, a significant reduction was achieved in mean hemoglobin A(1c) (0.96%; P < .01), systolic BP (15.84 mm Hg; P < .05), diastolic BP (7.16 mm Hg; P < .001), and low-density lipoprotein (0.62 mmol/L; P < .01) levels. There was a significant increase in the proportion of patients with clinical indications who were treated with acetylsalicylic acid (42.4%; P < .01), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker medications (35.9%; P < .01), or statin therapy (35.9%; P < .01). CONCLUSION: A community-based, nurse practitioner-led clinic can improve many clinically relevant factors in patients at risk of developing chronic kidney disease. Studies have shown that achieving treatment targets is associated with a reduced risk of early death and cardiovascular events; the effect in the First Nations population on these hard clinical end points remains to be determined.