School of Rural Medicine
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Rural Australians face significant challenges in accessing care for their chronic kidney disease (CKD). Although lifestyle-focused strategies are recommended by doctors to improve kidney health, limited evidence exists regarding how helpful and accessible these are for rural patients.
This project is divided into two parts. Firstly, a survey asks patients presenting to Swan Hill Primary Health Medical Centre to rate their approach to managing CKD on a likert scale vetted questionnaire (CKD-SM instrument). Once answered, the second part of this project requires the researchers to correlate the patient's eGFR trends and demographic data, for a comparative analysis. This allows us to understand which lifestyle modifications are most employed by rural patients and consequently, which are most effective by using an objective health measure such as their eGFR.
Finally, the results can be further analysed in comparison with similar research conducted on urban populations - using the same vetted questionnaire to understand differences in population-wide behaviours and outcomes in early CKD management.
Dr Zeest Naveed - GP at Swan Hill Primary Health Medical Centre
Dr Indra Choudhury - School of Rural Medicine, Orange
Aryan Sharma - Fourth Year Medical Student - School of Rural Medicine
To assess the impact of self-management strategies utilised by rural CKD patients.
Participants eligible for this project must meet the following criteria:
Patients will be asked to complete a short questionnaire called the CKD-SM instrument - which contains 17 questions. These questions are in the form of a 4-point scale, where 1 corresponds to never and 4 means always.
Patients will also be required to provide consent for the researchers to access their recent kidney function results (eGFR) and demographic data for optimal data analysis.
For more information and to continue with your interest in participating in this project, please download and read the participant information sheet. This will provide a link at the end for you to register your interest.
The information provided will remain confidential and consent can be withdrawn at anytime. Please note we will not require any information that identifies your workplace.
