In the MDT team approach nurses (RSC and/or dialysis nurses), allied health and doctors all have roles in the decision-making

and education aspects of such a programme. There are several possible models. One model has a team that consists of: RSC Clinical Nurse Consultant; Palliative Care Physician; Research assistant; Nephrologist; Renal Pembrolizumab advanced trainee; Social work and dietician support. Some Units prefer to run the RSC clinic separate from the patient’s usual renal clinic consultation while others find it better to combine the treatment into one visit. To assist uniformity of management, treatment protocols are imperative; one example of such protocols is a ‘palliative care’ selleck inhibitor treatment list for ESKD non-dialysis management. This is available for use by any staff at any hour through online access at http://stgrenal.med.unsw.edu.au/ Some clinicians express concern that establishing such models of care will result in bureaucratic limiting of dialysis resources; others have a different view and have found that engaging hospital and other health administration

early in the establishment of RSC services leads to a much better integrated model of health care for all patients with ESKD, whether or not they are receiving dialysis; in other words, the establishment of a RSC PAK5 service generally requires additional resources, not a reduction in available dialysis resources, in keeping with the ethical principle of justice. Suggested performance measures for a RSC service include: Uptake of the service by patients – this evaluates whether

the service is meeting the needs of patients but also whether nephrologists and nursing staff are referring patients as needed; improvement in the symptom burden of patients; improvement in patients’ QOL; Patient, family and carer satisfaction with the service; Education and research outputs. Resuscitation status and Advance Care Plans need to be discussed and clearly documented, as per Section 6 above. A fall in performance status is an indicator of decline. Essential components of End-of-Life care include: Diagnosing dying; Determining the patient’s desired place of death; Communication of the likely time frame and what to expect with patient and family; Assessment of needs and symptom management using practical guidelines/prescribing; Regular review of symptoms and patient/family needs; and After-death care. The Liverpool Care Pathway is one recognized model of EOL care, and has been adapted for patients with end-stage renal disease. This is available at http://www.liv.ac.uk/mcpcil/; other more local guidelines are available at http://stgrenal.med.unsw.edu.au/.