Multidisciplinary Support to Access Living Donor Kidney Transplant (MuST AKT)

For people living with kidney failure, the two active treatment options are dialysis or kidney transplantation. Transplantation is optimal, and especially from a living donor - offering patients longer survival, a better quality of life, and cost savings for the health system when compared to dialysis. However, 20% of patients die on dialysis while waiting for a deceased donor organ. As the rate of kidney failure continues to rise, the gap between demand and supply of the organs for transplantation increases.

Compared to other provinces in Canada, the rate of living kidney donor transplantation is lower in Alberta, so it is essential that improvements are made to the process around living kidney donor transplantation, for better patient outcomes and care.

Our published evidence-based review on strategies to increase living kidney donation, found that for patients with kidney failure, the intervention with the greatest health impact was personalized support, provided by a multidisciplinary team, to inform and educate the patients' social network. A province-wide survey also confirmed that many patients with kidney failure are unable to find a living kidney donor and also find it difficult to approach potential donors due to lack of skills, supports, and resources.

The investigators have developed the Multidisciplinary Support To Access living donor Kidney Transplant (MuST AKT) intervention to support potential kidney transplant recipients find living donors through their social networks, and thereby increase the number of living kidney donor transplants in Alberta. The investigators will test the effectiveness of this intervention.