Health Information Updates

NKDEP collaborates with the Indian Health Service

The National Kidney Disease Education Program (NKDEP) and Indian Health Service (IHS) are collaborating to improve the quality of care to American Indians and Alaska Natives with chronic kidney disease (CKD). American Indians have the highest rates of diabetes in the U.S. and are nearly twice as likely as whites to develop kidney failure.

NKDEP is collaborating with the IHS Division of Diabetes Treatment and Prevention to develop a Kidney Disease Education Kit that will provide lesson outlines, background information, patient handouts and assessment questions to educate patients to slow disease progression and prepare patients for treatment of kidney failure. This content will allow qualified IHS providers to meet the educational programming needs required by the 2010 Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act, as well as serving CKD patients not eligible for Medicare.

The IHS is also co-branding NKDEP publications for people at increased risk for developing CKD and for newly diagnosed CKD patients. IHS dietitians, diabetes educators, and health educators played a key role in developing and revising these educational materials.

Before coming to NIH, NKDEP Director Dr. Andrew Narva was the director of the IHS Kidney Disease Program, and he continues to serve patients from Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico through a telemedicine clinic conducted from his NIH office in Bethesda, Md. He also conducts continuing education webinars with IHS providers and serves as the IHS chief clinical consultant in nephrology.

“These collaborations with IHS allow us to benefit from the knowledge and experience that IHS has developed in addressing disparities in diabetes and CKD in a high-risk population,” Narva said.

For more information visit the NKDEP web site.

Updated diabetes guide helps schools help kids

School-age children with diabetes face unique challenges on their way to and from school, during class, at mealtime and on the playing field. To help teachers, principals, parents and others ensure the safety of youngsters with diabetes throughout the school day, the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) has updated its manual.

"Unfortunately, the need to manage diabetes doesn’t go away at school,” said NIDDK Director Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers. “The guide, quite literally, can be a lifesaver.”

"Everyone, from bus drivers to teachers to administrators, has a role in helping students with diabetes succeed," said NDEP chair Martha Funnell, R.N., of the University of Michigan.

The guide also recommends steps parents should take to keep their kids safe:

• Notify school officials when their child is diagnosed with diabetes.
• Work with their child’s personal health team to develop a medical management plan and provide it to school staff, and
• Allow sharing of medical information between a child’s school and medical team.

For more information visit the NDEP web site.