Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is one of the most common—and underdiagnosed—conditions in family medicine. More than 37 million Americans are affected, yet 9 out of 10 don’t know they have it. Managing CKD alongside other chronic conditions is increasingly complex, but early detection and coordinated care can make a meaningful difference.
This page offers practical, evidence-based tools to help you save time, identify high-risk patients earlier, support those with both CKD and diabetes, and streamline CKD care within your current workflow.
Jay Shubrook, DO, BC-ADM, FACOFP, FAAFP, and the National Kidney Foundation's Katelyn Laue, MPH, RD, LD, discussed during a LinkedIn Live event how early identification, intervention and shared decision-making can help improve patient outcomes.
In this episode we are joined by Dr. Jay Shubrook, DO, FAAFP, FACOFP and Katelyn Laue from the National Kidney Foundation (NKF). They dive into the importance of early CKD screening, the advancements in treatment, and how family physicians can collaborate with other healthcare professionals to improve patient outcomes. The episode emphasizes the necessity of integrating CKD care into primary care practices and highlights valuable resources for both physicians and patients. The conversation also covers patient education strategies and the utilization of a multidisciplinary care team to enhance disease management.
Early diagnosis and treatment are crucial for slowing disease progression and preventing complications for patients with Diabetes or Chronic Kidney Disease. Find the latest screening protocols, medications, and patient lifestyle interventions in this fact sheet.
Patients with CKD need to lower their blood pressure in order to reduce cardiovascular risk and slow disease progression. This fact sheet discusses the variety of medications commonly used, possible side effects, and dosages.
You aren't on your own when treating patients who have diabetes and CKD, and this fact sheet will walk you through collaborating with other physicians and health care professionals as a means to provide recommended care and improve patient outcomes.
Patients with diabetes and/or hypertension should receive annual urine albumin/creatinine ratio (uACR) testing and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) testing to screen for chronic kidney disease (CKD) and cardiovascular risk. Early detection of albuminuria can substantially improve patient outcomes by enabling timely intervention.
Family physicians are often the first line of defense for patients at risk for chronic kidney disease (CKD). Because patients typically are asymptomatic in the early stages of CKD, screening is critical to enable timely diagnosis, slow disease progression and improve cardiovascular outcomes. The AAFP designed this guide to support shared decision-making, helping you have evidence-based conversations with your patients about their risk factors for CKD, the importance of early detection and tests used to check their kidney health.
Many people are unaware they have CKD until it has already progressed to an advanced stage. As the U.S. population ages, more adults will be living with the disease. Family physicians play an important role in increasing patients’ awareness of CKD, its key risk factors, and the availability of effective treatments that can slow disease progression, improve quality of life and reduce CKD-related complications.
Efficient, effective chronic disease management requires a coordinated, systematic approach.
Family physicians play an important role in educating and supporting their patients who have chronic kidney disease (CKD). This conversation guide can prepare patients for the future by discussing the step-by-step process for considering kidney replacement therapy (KRT), which is also known as renal replacement therapy.
This self-management checklist and progress tracking chart guides patients who have CKD through the variety of ways they can improve and monitor their health, empowering them to take ownership of their well-being on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.