A Patient-centered Trial of a Process-of-care Intervention in Hospitalized AKI Patients: the COPE-AKI Trial

The nephrologist and/or nephrology-associated advanced practice provider (APP) at each site will lead the intervention team for the duration of the study. The study physicians will fulfil two main roles: (a) Provide supervision to the rest of the study team and (b) conduct a discharge assessment to triage and make recommendations for follow-up care.

The nurse navigator will be the primary contact for the participants assigned to the intervention group for the study. The navigator will obtain contact information, information about the patient's usual care providers and pharmacy, review medications, show the participant how to use the home blood pressure machine and scales and arrange for follow-up visits. The role of the nurse navigator will be to monitor the participant's medical condition; facilitate scheduling of needed medical follow-up including both routine (pre-scheduled) and ad hoc (urgent or emergency); enhance adherence with prescribed medical care and follow-up appointments; and serve as a resource to the patient to answer questions about their AKI-related management, facilitate medical and associated care and provide enhanced psychosocial support.

The pharmacist will complete the medication reconciliation and medication regimen review per the predetermined checklist, via telemedicine if agreeable to the patient. The goal of the patient/caregiver-pharmacist interaction is to cover the following: avoidance of nephrotoxins when possible and appropriate, appropriate dosing of renally cleared drugs, review for drug-drug interactions, monitoring appropriate use of chronic medications, medication adherence, monitor for adverse drug reactions, evaluation of non-prescription medication use, medication/disease education and social support.

Written information about kidney disease, nephrotoxins to be avoided and importance/need for follow up with a physician will be provided.