Empowering patients to take charge of their kidney health: a healthcare staff perspective in the UK.

BACKGROUND

Self-management is an essential component in the effective management of people living with chronic kidney disease (CKD). While self-management is part of practice guidelines, there is limited understanding of healthcare professionals' views on self-management and how patient self-management is supported and integrated in everyday clinical practice. This qualitative study explored healthcare professionals' perspectives on self-management in CKD, including current clinical practices and the requirements for providing effective self-management support.

METHODS

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a range of healthcare professionals working in the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. Topics explored perspectives and experiences of self-management support, lifestyle and education in practice. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis to analyse the data and report themes.

RESULTS

Forty-two healthcare professionals were interviewed, and four overarching themes were identified. The themes reflected healthcare professionals' perceptions on CKD self-management, which were: (1) "the problem with the healthcare landscape in CKD self-management", (2) need for a personalised approach to CKD management, (3) how to improve self--management support resources, and (4) considerations to improve health equity.

CONCLUSIONS

The healthcare professionals perceived that the healthcare structure within the NHS does not adequately support self-management, with a notable lack of accessible self-management resources, suggesting a need for evidence-based self-management interventions in CKD that are tailored responsively to individual needs. While these findings arise from the UK context, the issues identified are likely to be relevant and applicable to healthcare systems in other countries.