New AHRQ Toolkit Helps Keep Dialysis Patients Safer

To help prevent infection in people with end-stage renal disease, AHRQ has developed a new resource, the AHRQ Safety Program for End-Stage Renal Disease Facilities Toolkit. Dialysis clinics can use this toolkit to prevent healthcare-associated infections in their patients. The toolkit helps clinicians and other health care workers follow clinical best practices, create a culture of safety, use checklists and other audit tools and engage patients and their families in infection prevention practices. This new resource has science-based, practical information—including educational videos—that reflects the experiences of the frontline providers who helped develop the toolkit.

AHRQ Safety Program for End-Stage Renal Disease Facilities – Toolkit

The ESRD Toolkit was created to help end-stage renal disease clinics prevent healthcare-associated infections in dialysis patients. The toolkit helps dialysis center clinicians make care safer by following clinical best practices, creating a culture of safety, using checklists and other audit tools, and engaging with patients and their families. The toolkit has science-based, practical resources that reflect the real-world experiences of the frontline providers who participated in the toolkit’s development.

How To Use the ESRD Toolkit

The toolkit consists of four instructional modules that a facilitator can use to teach dialysis center team members specific ways to create a culture of safety. The modules are modifiable to meet individual dialysis center training needs.

ESRD Toolkit Modules

Modules contain PowerPoint slides, facilitator notes, video vignettes, and tools. Each module includes teaching tools and resources to support change at the unit level, presented through facilitator notes that take you step by step through the slides, tools, and videos.

About the Toolkit Development

The ESRD Toolkit was developed during a 2-year project called the National Opportunity To Improve Infection Control in End-Stage Renal Disease Facilities, conducted through a partnership that brought together subject matter experts and providers in the field.

Page last reviewed January 2015

Internet Citation: AHRQ Safety Program for End-Stage Renal Disease Facilities – Toolkit. January 2015. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/quality-patient-safety/patient-safety-resources/resources/esrd/index.html