The End Stage Renal Disease National Coordinating Center (ESRD NCC), in collaboration with Kidney Community Emergency Response, presents COVID-19 positive case rates among the general population and the ESRD population in maps. Maps are organized by ESRD Network service area and presented in PDF format, both in color and black and white, optimized for printing in grayscale. The ESRD NCC encourages sharing these maps with facilities, transplant centers, and all ESRD patients.

This overview data is meant for general illustrative purposes and should not be construed as the final and most up-to-date detailed analysis, as this includes self-reported data. For the most accurate data related to COVID-19 cases, please go to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID Data Tracker webpage at covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases_totalcases.

May has been designated Mental Health Month since 1949. The impact of COVID-19 has been felt by both patients and staff. This May, both the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and Mental Health America (MHA) have shared tools and resources to help promote treatment, self care with a goal to reduce the stigma that surrounds mental health diagnosis. The IPRO ESRD Network Program encourages dialysis providers to review the following resources and incorporate in your work with your patients and staff.

Begin preparing now and know what you’re going to do in the event of a hurricane. Planning ahead gives you more options and better control over situations that could become chaotic at the last moment if you’re not ready. To learn more about how to prepare for a hurricane visit ready.gov/hurricanes. Find out about preparedness drills or exercises in your area at https://www.ready.gov/testing-exercises.

The IPRO ESRD Network Customer Support Portal provides centralized technical assistance to support all of your data submission requirements. By registering for the IPRO ESRD Network Support Portal, you will be able to quickly and easily open a support ticket with the Network staff from your computer without making a phone call. The support request will go to the Network data team queue for investigation and response.  You can also track the status of the request or search our Frequently Asked questions in the knowledgebase.

You can register for the portal by going to http://help.esrd.ipro.org. Please print and share the IPRO ESRD Network Program Customer Support Portal resource with your staff. Encourage staff to try this method as the quickest and easiest way to get their data issues and questions answered.

NOTE: When submitting a request to the Network, you should NEVER include any patient-specific information such as Name, Date of Birth, Social Security Number, Medicare Claim Number, etc. The only patient identifier that can safely be communicated is the Unique Patient Identifier (UPI) from CROWNWeb.

If you have any questions or require assistance, please open a customer support ticket at help.esrd.ipro.org.

As described by the World Health Organization (WHO), the SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands global campaign, launched in 2009 and celebrated annually on 5 May aims to maintain global promotion, visibility and sustainability of hand hygiene in health care and to ‘bring people together’ in support of hand hygiene improvement around the world.

For World Hand Hygiene Day 2021, WHO calls on health care workers and facilities to achieve effective hand hygiene action at the point of care. The point of care refers to the place where three elements come together: the patient, the health care worker, and care or treatment involving contact with the patient or their surroundings. To be effective and prevent transmission of infectious microorganisms during health care delivery, hand hygiene should be performed when it is needed (at 5 specific moments) and in the most effective way (by using the right technique with readily available products) at the point of care. This can be achieved by:

On April 7, 2021 Winfred Williams, MD and Jamil Sulemana, RN, BSN from Massachusetts General Hospital hosted a discussion on a variety of topics ranging from kidney disease in the Black community, finding a living donor, and preparing yourself for transplant. For more information, and to listen to the recorded version of the webinar, please go to https://www.massgeneral.org/blum-center/events/the-road-to-racial-equity-in-kidney-transplant

Dialysis facility leadership are encouraged to discuss access to care barriers and the Network's role in preventing and reducing IVDs with facility staff. Please visit https://esrd.ipro.org/providers/patient-services/access-to-care/

Please review the QAPI section (pages 30-33) of the Dialysis Patient Grievance Toolkit developed by the Forum of ESRD Networks Kidney Patient Advisory Council (KPAC) to help identify ways to include patients in QAPI meetings at your facility.

The 2007 Kimmel, P. L., Cukor, D., Cohen, S. D., and Peterson, R. A. study, Depression in End-Stage Renal Disease Patients: A Critical Review, acknowledged depression as the most common psychological disorder among end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. "Depression among ESRD patients is believed to have a prevalence rate between 20-25%." There are several studies linking depression with mortality in ESRD, therefore early diagnosis, effective treatment and peer mentoring are essential to boost ESRD patients’ overall quality of life. The mechanisms linking depression with survival in ESRD patients have been correlated to treatment compliance, improvement in nutritional parameters, increased perception of social support, and modulation of the immune system. Peer mentoring presents a unique experience to facilitate relationship building, patient goal setting, and treatment adherence. Effective peer mentoring may allow patients to reshape their perspectives on dialysis and ESRD that are more reflective of a higher quality of life. Essentially, this can be accomplished through a continuous supportive relationship between two patients who share common experiences, characteristics, and beliefs.

To learn more about the Network's Peer Mentoring Program, go to https://esrd.ipro.org/patients-family/pfe/peer-mentoring/

Review the Network's Mental Health Resources for ideas on how to help dialysis patients through mental health difficulties: https://esrd.ipro.org/home/covid-19-provider-resources/mental-health-providers/