Education of Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease at the Interface of Primary Care Providers and Nephrologists

Patient education is promoted as an integral part of effective kidney disease management. Programs and tools are available for providers and patients to support patient CKD education in primary care and nephrology. Challenges to providing patient education across practice settings include patients' lack of awareness of CKD as a medical entity, physician perceptions of their own lack of skill and ability to educate patients, differences in how primary care and nephrology physicians perceive collaborative care, and shortage of staff and time to support educational efforts. In addition, there is little research available to guide evidence-based practices for implementing early patient CKD education interventions across medical disciplines. Development and testing of patient education programs using early CKD multidisciplinary care, educational websites, and phone-based applications are all areas of growing research. More work is needed to provide evidence and support that physicians and other health professionals need to ensure a seamless patient education experience across the continuum of care.