Healthcare Professionals’ Experiences and Patients’ Satisfaction with an Online Kidney School during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Background
At the Hospital of Southern Jutland in Denmark a kidney
school consisting of 3 classes of 3 hours over 3 days has
existed for more than 15 years teaching patients and relatives
about end-stage renal disease and treatment options. Due to
the Covid-19 pandemic it was suspended and patients’
educational needs were unmet. Our solution was to create an
online kidney school.
Aim
1)To explore healthcare professionals’ experiences with the
establishment of an online kidney school.
2) To pilot a questionnaire measuring patients’ satisfaction
with a telemedicine setup.
Setup
The online kidney school consists of a 3-hour synchronous
class taught by a nephrologist and a dialysis nurse to patients
and relatives combined with asynchronous short films on
treatment options and telephonic advice from a dietitian.
Method
A mixed-methods design was used: A qualitative explorative
focus group discussion with staff from the online kidney school
was held. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis.
A questionnaire - the Telemedicine Usability Questionnaire
(TUQ) sent to 45 patients from the online kidney school. TUQ
consists of 21 questions on a 7 point Likert scale (1=strongly
disagree and 7=strongly agree) covering six domains.
Results
Four staff took part in the focus group. Preliminary results
including themes and subthemes can be seen in table 1.
Fifteen patients completed the questionnaire. Results can be
seen in table 2.
Discussion
Healthcare professionals are positive about the newly established
kidney school. Initial fears proved unsubstantiated and staff
developed methods of overcoming barriers. However, concerns
exist for the level and quality of knowledge patients gain from
participating in an online kidney school and the lack of interpatient interaction in comparison with a physical kidney school.
The results of TUQ display that, overall, the majority of patients
were satisfied with an online kidney school and found it useful.
However, larger numbers and further studies are necessary to
validate the questionnaire in a Danish context
Table 1. Results of focus group discussion with healthcare professionals

Table 2. Results of TUC questionnaire from patients

Conclusion
An online platform is a feasible method for attending a kidney
school for people with chronic kidney disease. Future opportunities
involve creating hybrid versions of online and physical kidney
schools. Further research is ongoing in relation to patient
perspectives and measuring knowledge transformation in both
physical and online kidney schools.