Peer-to-peer training among health care professionals working in dialysis clinics: an education approach from the GoodRENal project

Abstract

Background Lifestyle interventions aiming to improve dietary habits, increase physical activity level, and improve emotional well-being can positively impact clinical outcomes in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Educational material for health care professionals working with CKD patients that focuses on why and how to promote lifestyle changes is lacking. The present study aims to depict the material and dissemination methods for the peer-to-peer training program developed for health care professionals working in the dialysis clinics of the four countries engaged in the GoodRENal project: Spain, Greece, Sweden, and Belgium. Methods This is an ERASMUS + project funded by the European Union (number 2020–1-ES01-KA2014-083141, http://goodrenal.eu/) named GoodRENal. The educational material was developed in English by a multidisciplinary team integrating the GoodRENal project (dietitian, physiotherapist, psychologist, and nephrologist). The material was then translated to Greek, Spanish, Swedish and Dutch and is available for download at the GoodRENal webpage (https://goodrenal.es/results-3/). After training, the health care professionals filled in an anonymous questionnaire regarding their degree of satisfaction with the training. Results In total, 138 health care professionals in the four dialysis clinics joined the peer-to-peer training, representing 50% to 92% of the health care professionals in each clinic. From the total sample, 78 health care professionals responded to the satisfaction questionnaire. The answers showed that most participants were very satisfied or satisfied with the peer-to-peer training and that they found this approach useful in their clinical practice. Conclusion The educational material developed for health care professionals working with patients on hemodialysis (HD) obtained good satisfaction scores from the participants. Graphical Abstract