The mission of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Continuing Education (CE) Program is to assist members of the interprofessional healthcare team in nephrology, primary care, and other specialties impacted by kidney disease in their pursuit of life-long learning toward providing high-quality healthcare and advancing systems-level improvements in kidney care across the disease continuum.
Purpose
The purpose of NKF’s CE Program is to change competence, clinical skills, strategy, and/or performance among the interprofessional healthcare team and to facilitate improvement in patient and population-level outcomes through education, information, and opportunities to apply learning in real-world and virtual clinical settings. NKF’s CE Program is intentionally aligned with the Foundation’s three enterprise-wide transformation initiatives: CKDIntercept, the Home Dialysis Quality Initiative, and Transplants for All, to ensure education functions as a core driver of care redesign, quality improvement, and equitable access to kidney care.
Content Area
Content areas span the scope of kidney disease and include risk factors, screening, diagnosis, chronic kidney disease (CKD) staging, co-morbidities and complications such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, anemia, and mineral and bone disorder (MBD); rare glomerular diseases; kidney failure; dialysis; infectious diseases as they relate to kidney disease; all aspects of kidney transplantation; and patient safety issues. Educational content is strategically developed to support upstream identification and management of CKD in primary care (CKDIntercept), high-quality and equitable access to home dialysis (Home Dialysis Quality Initiative), and timely referral and access to kidney transplantation and living donation (Transplants for All).
Selected topics are based on identified needs and gaps in interprofessional knowledge, competence, performance, and system processes related to the care and treatment of individuals affected by kidney disease. Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI) evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and commentaries, along with the latest peer-reviewed clinical science, provide the foundation for much of the content associated with best practices. Additional inputs include professional interests, expert opinion, literature reviews, and needs assessment data from healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers that identify gaps in quality of care and barriers to implementation of current science within clinical workflows and health systems.
Target audiences include physicians, residents, and fellows in nephrology, internal medicine, family medicine, cardiology, endocrinology, and other specialties; hospitalists; advanced practice providers; nurses; pharmacists; dietitians; social workers; technicians; transplant coordinators; community health workers; and other professionals in any setting who care for individuals at increased risk for, or affected by, kidney disease. Educational activities are designed to support team-based care models and interprofessional collaboration across ambulatory, dialysis, and transplant care settings.
Types of Activities
Types of activities are carefully designed to maximize learning, retention, and application to clinical practice. Strategies grounded in adult learning principles and critical-thinking techniques such as reflection, challenging assumptions, and exploring alternatives, are incorporated to facilitate translation of new knowledge and clinical strategies into practice. Teaching and learning methodologies include case-based discussion, virtual patient problem-solving, question-and-answer formats, multimedia tools, and longitudinal models such as Project ECHO, as well as small group and individual exercises, depending on activity format. These approaches support not only individual learning but also practice-level and system-level change by reinforcing guideline-based care, workflow integration, and continuous quality improvement.
To meet diverse learner preferences and practice needs, activities are offered in live and enduring formats. Live activities include conferences, symposia, courses, grand rounds, hands-on workshops, audience response sessions, and debates. Enduring materials include internet-based activities such as webinars, podcasts, journal articles, and clinical bulletins. Many activities are intentionally designed as part of longitudinal educational strategies that align with ongoing quality improvement and health system transformation efforts.
Expected Results
Expected results include improved professional knowledge, competence, performance, and/or patient outcomes. Learning outcomes are evaluated during and immediately following activities through in-activity polling, post-testing, and learner evaluations assessing applicability to practice, commitment to change, and planned practice improvements. A 3–6-month outcomes study collects data to measure changes in knowledge, perceptions, competence, and behavior, as well as to identify barriers to implementation. Learner-reported patient volumes allow for projection of potential population-level impact resulting from practice changes. NKF programmatic data, partner health system outcomes, and national screening, utilization, and mortality data are used to assess trends over time in key CKD, dialysis, and transplant outcomes, and to inform continuous quality improvement of the CE Program and its alignment with NKF’s organizational initiatives.
Privacy Statement
The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of personal information collected in connection with its continuing medical education (CME) activities. NKF collects and uses personal information in accordance with applicable privacy laws and regulations and maintains administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect that information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure.
Personal information collected through NKF CME activities is used solely for educational, accreditation, reporting, and quality improvement purposes. NKF does not sell or rent personal information to third parties. Information may be shared with trusted service providers or accreditation bodies only as necessary to administer the activity, meet accreditation requirements, or comply with legal or regulatory obligations.
By participating in this CME activity, you acknowledge and agree to the collection and use of your information as described in this statement.
Collection and Use of Your Personal Information
NKF may collect the following types of personal information in connection with this CME activity:
- Contact information (such as name, email address, professional credentials, and organization)
- Professional information (such as specialty, role, and practice setting)
- Participation and engagement data (such as registration status, attendance, activity completion, and assessment responses)
- Evaluation and outcomes data (such as pre- and post-activity assessments, confidence measures, and follow-up surveys)
This information is collected and used for the following purposes:
- To register you for the CME activity and verify participation
- To award, track, and report continuing education credit
- To evaluate educational effectiveness and measure outcomes in accordance with accreditation requirements
- To support quality improvement and future educational planning
- To meet reporting obligations to accrediting bodies and funding entities, when applicable
Data may be reported in aggregate or de-identified form for outcomes analysis, accreditation reporting, or research and quality improvement purposes. Individual-level data will not be publicly disclosed. Participation in evaluations and outcomes surveys may be required to claim CME credit.