Council of Nephrology Social Work Report May 2007 for Members

TOPIC	REPORT
Clinical Program April 10-14, 2007 Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotel Orlando, FL	· Over 220 social workers attended the annual NKF Spring Clinical Meetings in Orlando, Florida. · Over 30 hours of CEUs were available to social work participants · This was the 10^th Anniversary of the Outcomes Training Project Pre-Conference · Contact Stephanie J. Stewart, MSW, CNSW Program Chair [(507) 284-6659, stewart.stephanie@mayo.edu) or the CNSW program Co-Chair Andrea Geiman, MSW [(734) 432-7870, ageiman@umich.edu] with ideas and suggestions for future meeting speakers and sessions · Future NKF Clinical dates: · April 2 - 6, 2008, Gaylord Texan, Dallas, TX · March 24-28, 2009, Gaylord Opryland, Nashville, TN · April 7-11, 2010 Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel, Orlando, FL · Will have pediatric sessions available again · We’re working on having more transplant sessions available
New CNSW Products	· CNSW Pediatric Practice Manual: being worked on by American and Canadian pediatric social workers. This will be a long term project available in about a year. · CNSW Transplant Practice Manual now available!! This manual is a primer for dialysis and new transplant social workers on kidney transplantation. To order a copy please visit our website at www.kidney.org/professionals/cnsw/ · “Living Longer, Living Better” is a stand-alone tool (video and flip chart) for social workers to work with patients on hypertension. Target release date is summer 2007. It will be mailed to all dialysis units in the US. · Focused Psychosocial Assessment Tool 3^rd Edition http://www.kidney.org/professionals/CNSW/focusedpsych/login.cfm · CNSW Fact Sheets available or will be available online under “Professional Education/Clinical Resources” on the following subjects: Hospice, Transient Dialysis, Medicare, EGHP, and COB Issues, COBRA, Medicare Suffixes, Best CKD Web Sites for Social Workers and Consumers, Immigrant Resources, Work and Dialysis. These can be found at: http://www.kidney.org/professionals/CNSW/sub_resources.cfm
New CNSW Projects	· Salary survey still available online!!!! Responses needed no later than July 1st- please encourage ALL of your colleagues to complete this: http://www.kidney.org/professionals/CNSW/salarySurvey.cfm · Special 2007 edition of Journal of Nephrology Social Workers focusing on the Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (DOPPS) data related to social work · CNSW is looking into how we can extend CEU assistance/education/guidance for Chapters to help Chapters obtain CEUs for local events. There would be a nominal charge for this service.
CNSW Products to update	The following CNSW products are currently being updated: · Chapter Chair Manual · Care Plan · Advocacy Book · Website · CQI Manual · 6^th Edition Standards of Practice
Members-only benefits (see the website for details)	· Receive 15% off individual subscription rates for the Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life and Palliative Care, quarterly journal addressing topics vital to practitioners in a variety of settings. · Visit our partner, publisher John Wiley and Sons, and receive 15% off all Wiley products at www.wiley.com, a global publisher of print and electronic media products, specializing in a variety of subject areas. You can also save 30% on the Handbook of Health Social Work and 15% on the rest of your order. Your discount will be applied automatically upon checkout. If you do you not see the discount being applied, please enter code “NKF” in the Promotion Code field and click the Apply Discount button. http://www.kidney.org/professionals/CNSW/hsw.cfm
Projects and Committees CNSW is working on	· Chapter Websites!! Your chapter can have a CNSW Chapter Web page! You don’t need to worry about formatting or design. No computer expertise is required. All it takes is a couple of Chapter members who are willing to provide the information to establish the web page and to commit to sending routine updates on meetings, resources, and local Chapter news to the NKF National Office staff. Check the CNSW website for links to the existing Chapter web pages. For more information contact Marcia Sawyer at msawyer92@sbcglobal.net. · Network 5 End of Life Coalition · Contributing to the NASW website www.helpstartshere.org. We are looking for volunteers to write short articles on CKD for this website. Contact Jeff Harder at jharder@u.washington.edu for more details. Check out: http://www.helpstartshere.org/default.aspx?pageid=487 and also http://www.helpstartshere.org/health_and_wellness/default_page.html · UNOS Consensus Conference · Midwest CKD Coalition · The United States Department of Labor's (USDOL) O*NET Program & Research Triangle are attempting to identify subject matter experts (SME's) who perform as Medical & Public Health Social Workers- CNSW is working with them on this. · Helping with “CKD Update” newsletter for NKF · National Disaster Coalition · Work with the NKF Patient and Family Council's Executive Committee to serve as a judge for the Wayne Nix Memorial Award · Created “Nephrology Social Work Works”: The executive committee, “inspired” by some comments that were submitted regarding the latest Proposed Conditions for Coverage for dialysis units (as well as reports from the NKF Family Focus survey that indicates that 17% of patients “almost never” see their social worker), saw the need to simply and clearly show our teams what nephrology social workers can do, how we are cost effective, and how our employers can use nephrology social workers to their fullest. In order to achieve this, we called together a panel of nephrology social work experts, including past chairpersons of CNSW and many other passionate advocates of nephrology social work. Our first meeting occurred during the NKF Clinical Meeting in Chicago in April 2006. Since then, we have had a number of conference calls and created a special listserv to continue this project. We are working on getting social work speakers at various nephrology conferences, where we can help educate our patients and teams about how social workers can help improve patient outcomes. We are continuing to work hard at this “PR” effort for nephrology social work, and if you want to help with this let your CNSW region representative know. · Kidney Allocation Policy Changes – CNSW is monitoring progress on proposed changes to the allocation system for kidneys for transplantation. This could have huge ramifications for our patients. Instead of the current system based on blood type, tissue typing and waiting time (among other relatively neutral factors), the proposed changes will rank all potential recipients on a “life years from transplant” to favor those patients who have a statistically better chance of surviving the longest with a kidney transplant. The proposed changes will favor younger recipients and have the greatest negative impact on those patients over 60 with diabetes, as one example. We will keep you posted as more information becomes available.
We need your help!	· National Disaster Coalition: Anyone can now sign up to become an emergency/disaster volunteer by going to the NKF’s home page for professionals: http://www.kidney.org/professionals/ · We are always looking for writers for our newsletter, RenaLink and our journal, the Journal of Nephrology Social Work! Contact the CNSW Publications Chairs Cheryl Weller or Megan Prescott if you are interested in helping write an article for our publications (cherylweller@cox.net or mjp313@comcast.net) · CNSW Elections – Have you wanted to become more involved in the national CNSW? We will have elections this Fall for the following positions to start in 2008: Membership Chair, Region I Representative, Region III Representative, and Region IV Representative. For more information please contact Sally Rice at s0rice01@gwise.louisville.edu.
CNSW Membership Brochure is available online!	http://www.kidney.org/professionals/pdf/cnswform.pdf
Conditions for Coverage Update	· The transplant Conditions of Participation are now available at www.cms.hhs.gov/Certificationand Complianc/20_Transplant.asp#TopOfPage. · The sections related to Social Work include: · Sec 405.2102 Definitions f) Social worker. A person who is licensed, if applicable, by the State in which practicing, and 1) Has completed a course of study with specialization in clinical practice at, and holds a masters degree from, a graduate school of social work accredited by the Council on Social Work Education; or 2) Has served for at least 2 years as a social worker, one year of which was in a dialysis unit or transplantation program prior to September 1, 1976, and has established a consultative relationship with a social worker who qualifies under paragraph (f)(1) of this definition. Section 405.2171 Condition: Minimum service requirements for a renal transplantation center. (b) Standard: Social services. Social services are provided to patients and their families and are directed at supporting and maximizing the social functioning and adjustment of the patient. Social services are furnished by a qualified social worker (Sec 405.2102) who has an employment or contractual relationship with the facility. The qualified social worker is responsible for conducting psychosocial evaluations, participating in team review of patient progress and recommending changes in treatment based on the patient’s current psychosocial needs, providing casework and groupwork services to patients and their families in dealing with the special problems associated with ESRD, and identifying community social agencies and other resources and assisting patients and families to utilize them. · The Dialysis Center Conditions of Participation have not yet been released, but are expected later in 2007. CNSW will keep you updated when they are released.
CNSW Research Grants	· Every year, CNSW has $20,000 to grant towards research in nephrology social work. This past funding cycle we received six grant applications with funding requests totaling over $50,000. Unfortunately we could not fund all the requests due to financial limitations. The three research grants for 2007-2008 are: 1. Caroline Jennette – University of North Carolina Kidney Center – project title “Renal Replacement Therapy and barriers to Choice – The Patient’s Perspective.” 2. Joe Merighi – Boston University and Teri Browne – CNSW Chair – project title “A Nationwide Survey of Kidney Transplant Social Workers’ Job Roles, Responsibilities, and Occupational Well-Being.” 3. Mary Beth Callahan – Dallas Transplant Institute and Wayne Paris – Southern Illinois University – project title “Kidney Transplant Patient Employment Potential: Re-Evaluation of an Important Outcome Measure By Use of New Methodologies.” · If you are interested in finding out how you can do nephrology social work and apply for a research grant, contact the CNSW Research Grant Coordinator, Jeff Harder, at jharder@u.washington.edu.