A guide to using the POLAR QIPC report CKD module to identify patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in your practice.
Chronic kidney disease is a health condition often under-recognised and under-diagnosed in Australia (RACGP). About 10 per cent of Australian adults have asymptomatic early kidney disease. In some patients, up to 90 per cent of kidney function can be lost before symptoms appear. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are twice as likely to have CKD than non-indigenous people (healthdirect).
Chronic kidney disease snapshot in Australia
Chronic kidney disease is common and treatable and, in some cases, reversible.
Who is at risk of chronic kidney disease?
Adult Australians are at increased risk of developing CKD if they have any of the following risk factors:
- Diabetes
- Hypertension
- Established cardiovascular disease
- Family history of kidney failure
- Obese (body mass index greater than 30kg/m2)
- Smoker
- 60 years or older
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
- History of acute kidney injury (AKI)
Impact of COVID-19 on chronic disease management
The Medical Journal of Australia reported the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected chronic disease management in primary care for several reasons, such as:
- Patient illness, self-isolation or other restrictions
- Redirection of clinic resources to COVID-19 treatment and immunisation
- Administration and clinical staff shortages
- Increase in telehealth services and cutback in face-to-face appointments
- Reduction in referrals and appointments available to specialist services
“The management of CKD is always a collaborative effort, and a whole of practice approach involving the general practitioner (GP), primary healthcare nurse and practice staff maximises the opportunity for best practice care to occur.”
POLAR can help your practice identify patients with chronic kidney disease and those at risk, to improve management and health outcomes
In collaboration with SWSPHN, Outcome Health has developed a new POLAR module focusing on chronic kidney disease.
The CKD module is found within the POLAR QIPC report under the “Clinical” tab. It aims to help clinicians better treat patients with an active diagnosis of CKD and identify patients who are at risk of developing the condition.
The module has three tabs:
- Information and Trends
- At Risk Cohort
- Management
POLAR Information and Trends tab
The Information and Trends tab in POLAR gives a snapshot of your practice’s CKD population, those with indicated impaired kidney function based on eGFR results, and a colour coded reference table to understand kidney disease stage categories used in the Management tab.
POLAR At Risk Cohort tab
Filter items on the At Risk table in POLAR to identify patients with ‘at risk’ criteria. This tab includes a chart to select patients with a Single Risk Element such as diabetes (or indicated diabetes).
POLAR Management tab
The Management tab focusses only on patients with an active CKD diagnosis. The filterable items allow for a targeted approach to CKD management, with the ability to track multiple items over a set time.
Tips & Tricks
Private Bookmark
It is not always easy to remember what filters have been applied to obtain the required patient cohort, especially when using multiple filters.
The Private Bookmark function is available on all POLAR reports. By creating your bookmark, a single click from the bookmark list will allow you to retrieve all previously applied filters needed for the patient cohort.
Correct documentation
For POLAR to extract the most accurate data, it is important that each item is correctly documented in the patient’s file. Data mapping of each tab is available in the Help menu, to guide clinicians in documenting care items in the correct place in their clinic’s medical software.
POLAR Walkthrough guides
POLAR Walkthrough guides for this and other reports can be found on the POLAR resources page of this website.
We are here to help
If you would like further support in using the POLAR CKD module or the private bookmark, please contact your assigned Practice Support Officer or Health Systems Improvement Officer.