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Chronic Kidney Disease: A Silent Condition

Duration: 62 minutes

Program ID: 917 | Purchase Price: $105.00 (DVD)

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a long-term health condition that is often preventable. It is referred to as a silent condition because up to 90% of kidney function can be lost before symptoms are evident. Consequently, more and more Australians are having dialysis or transplant for the disease’s most severe form, end-stage kidney disease. In 1999–2000 one in seven Australian adults over the age of 25 years had some degree of chronic kidney disease and in 2006, chronic kidney disease contributed to nearly 10% of all deaths and more than 1.1 million hospitalisations. 

The major risk factors for CKD include fixed factors such as age, being male, and ethnicity. Other risk factors which are common in the Australian population include behavioural factors such as smoking, and biomedical factors such as high blood pressure and obesity. Progression of CKD can often be slowed by controlling these modifiable risk factors and by improving disease treatment and management.
 
Chronic kidney disease is also common among Indigenous Australians who are six times as likely as other Australians to be receiving dialysis or to have had a kidney transplant. Death rates from chronic kidney disease were seven and eleven times as high for Indigenous males and females as for non-Indigenous males and females respectively.
 
This program emphasises the need for a targeted approach to the prevention, detection, and management of chronic kidney disease. It examines risk factors and the need for early detection. It also discusses how to manage the various stages of chronic kidney disease. The program discusses issues in the delivery of chronic kidney disease care, with a specific focus on Indigenous and rural populations.

Program Presenters

  • Chair: Dr Norman Swan - Presenter of the Health Report on ABC Radio National
  • Ms Anne Blong - Chronic Kidney Disease Nurse Practitioner, Townsville Health Service District QLD
  • Professor David Harris - Assoc Dean, Sydney Medical School - Westmead, University of Sydney
  • Dr Beres Joyner - General Practitioner, Member National Standing Committee Quality Care, RACGP
  • Dr Tim Mathew - National Medical Director, Kidney Health Australia
  • Ms Lesley Salem - Nurse Practitioner and High Dependency Nurse, Hunter New England Area Health, NSW.
  • Dr Paul Snelling - Renal Physician & Senior Staff Specialist in Nephrology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney
See details of presenters for this program

Learning Outcomes

  • Identify chronic kidney disease risk factors for early detection
  • Formulate a patient management plan for the various stages of chronic kidney disease
  • Formulate a culturally appropriate management plan for Indigenous patients with chronic kidney disease
  • Identify the respective roles within the multidisciplinary team in managing a patient with chronic kidney disease

Broadcast Dates

This program was first broadcast on the Foundation's satellite network on Tuesday 8 December 2009.

Funding Bodies

Funding has been provided by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.

Accreditation

This program is accredited or endorsed for CPD/CPE by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, the Royal College of Nursing Australia and the Australian Physiotherapy Association.