Researchers set the stage to improve the efficiency of living kidney donor evaluations

Living kidney donation rates have remained stagnant over the last decade, and many potential living donors perceive the evaluation process to be lengthy and difficult to navigate. Researchers recently identified indicators that may be used to monitor and improve the performance of transplant centers in how efficiently they evaluate individuals interested in becoming living kidney donors. The findings appear in an upcoming issue of CJASN.

For the study, a team led by Steven Habbous, Ph.D. and Amit Garg, MD, Ph.D. (Western University and Lawson Health Research Institute, both in Canada) surveyed 77 participants, including kidney transplant recipients and recipient candidates, living kidney donors and donor candidates, healthcare providers, and healthcare administrators.

The investigators identified various process indicators (those that measure how healthcare is delivered—for example, the average time it takes to evaluate a donor candidate) and outcome indicators (those that measure aspects related to transplantation—for example, the annual number of living kidney donor transplants performed).

"We were hoping to achieve a set of meaningful and impactful metrics that can be used to drive health system improvement. Because of the dedication and engagement of people involved with living donation, we were able to identify a diverse set of quality indicators that spans multiple domains," said Dr. Habbous. "These metrics can be used to compare the performance of transplant centers. Reasons for lower performance can be identified and targeted for quality improvement."

The researchers expect that doing so will improve the efficiency of living donor evaluations and translate into increased living kidney donations.