Two posters highlighting AKF core programs presented at the National Kidney Foundation's 2022 Spring Clinical Meetings

The American Kidney Fund (AKF) presented two posters at the National Kidney Foundation's Spring Clinical Meetings held on April 6-10, 2022. The posters highlight two core AKF programs: Kidney Health Coach™ (KHC) and Kidney Kitchen Pro™.

Improving KHC to serve a professional population

In January 2022, AKF relaunched KHC, its free community health education program. KHC was originally created to train people to become coaches and educate others on how to prevent and manage kidney disease. However, data collected from the program showed that most coaches were healthcare professionals. Based on this data, AKF updated the KHC program to better support healthcare professionals who educate and treat people at risk for or living with kidney disease. The updated program includes:

• Expanded online course content focused on preventing, managing and treating kidney disease, as well as living a healthy lifestyle
• Offerings of the online course in both English and Spanish
• Continuing education credits for health professionals, including:
  • Certified Health Education Specialists (CHES®)/Master Certified Health Education Specialists (MCHES®)
  • Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialists (CDCES) 
  • Nurses
  • Registered Dietitian Nutritionists
  • Social Workers
• A welcome kit mailed to coaches containing a t-shirt, tote bag, flip chart, sticker and magnet
• Updated resources to help coaches educate others

Although KHC has been expanded for healthcare professionals, the program is still available to non-professionals. Anyone that is passionate about educating others on preventing and managing kidney disease can access the program and become a coach. To learn more, view the poster and abstract from AKF's presentation or visit our website to find out how to become a coach.

Interprofessional collaboration to create a customized, digital resource for renal dietitians

In August 2021, AKF launched Kidney Kitchen Pro, an online resource for renal dietitians. Following a kidney-friendly eating plan is one of the biggest challenges to managing kidney disease. Registered dietitians play an important role in providing nutrition education and support to people living with kidney disease. To understand and better assist renal dietitians as they work with people on kidney-friendly eating, AKF collaborated with 10 renal dietitians and established the Dietitian Advisory Group (DAG). AKF and the DAG worked together to create Kidney Kitchen Pro. This online tool allows dietitians to build custom meal plans and toolkits for their patients, access nutrition-related resources and share information directly with their patients through the online portal. View the poster and abstract from AKF's presentation to learn more.

If you are a dietitian who works with people at risk for or living with kidney disease, we encourage you to use Kidney Kitchen Pro.