MEI accepts fee-for-service projects as a vendor that will:
- Empower kidney patients and families by boosting their health literacy
- Enhance the delivery of patient-centered care and shared decision-making
- Help our clients overcome challenges
All of our evidence-based patient education materials are:
- Written at the 6th grade reading level
- Based on published research
- Hopeful and reassuring in tone
- Designed using adult learning principles
- Grounded in motivational theory to encourage positive self-management
- In support of the Chronic Care Model
- Reviewed by patients and other multidisciplinary experts
We work on our own and in collaboration with partners, including dialysis providers, manufacturers, insurers, Federal agencies, other nonprofits, publishers, and associations.
We communicate with multiple audiences , including patients, family members, professionals, and healthcare team members.
We use all kinds of media , including print, video, audio, and web-based formats.
We are proud of the quality and quantity of educational resources we have created. Here’s a selection from our portfolio:
Help, I Need Dialysis!
How to have a good future with kidney disease
The Challenge: Help patients link dialysis modality choice to lifestyle.
The Solution: MEI Executive Director Dori Schatell worked with Australian nephrologist Dr. John Agar to develop a dialysis lifestyle "bible" to help patients understand what to expect from dialysis.
How to Have a Good Future with Kidney Disease
The Challenge: Improve dialysis modality education.
The Solution: MEI developed an up-to-the-minute toolkit with six decks of CKD education slides, speaker's notes, learning objectives, quizzes, handouts, and even a how-to guide--and offered it to the renal community for free. Eligible for MIPPA billing and reviewed by multidisciplinary experts, the slide decks use a minimum of words, relying largely on images to convey messages to patients who may be uremic, in denial, and/or traumatized by the diagnosis. The slides are not copyrighted, so they can be adapted or translated as needed. MEI also recorded the slides as videos for free, online CKD classes for patients.
VA Virtual CKD Clinic
The Challenge: Help Veterans protect their kidney function and slow CKD.
The Solution: MEI won a U.S. Veteran's Administration Innovation Award to develop a CKD navigator website. Set up as a "virtual CKD clinic," the 508 compliant site helps veterans understand what kidneys do, symptoms of kidney failure, medications, laboratory tests, nutrition, how social services can help, and treatment options in the event of kidney failure. The site was informed by usability testing with veterans and launches in Summer 2013.
Core Curriculum for the Dialysis Technician
The Challenge: Standardize patient-centered technician training.
The Solution: Amgen approached MEI to develop a training manual as a value-added benefit for its customers. The Core Curriculum for the Dialysis Technician is the premier PCT training manual in the industry, and Amgen's most-requested publication since the first edition in 1993. For five editions, MEI has identified authors and reviewers, and coordinated the extensive process of research, writing, design, editing, illustration, indexing, and production of this manual.
Let's Talk About...
The Challenge: Encourage patient and care team collaboration in care.
The Solution: With support from a variety of sources, MEI developed a series of 3-minute multimedia mini-movies in English and Spanish, designed to be shown to in-center dialysis patients during treatment to start a conversation with the care team. We deliberately chose challenging topics: fluid adherence, replacing a hemodialysis catheter with a fistula, getting enough dialysis, and treatment options. We'd like to do more of these! Contact us to sponsor one or more mini-movies.
Fistula First Web Content & Graphics
The Challenge: Help frightened patients choose a fistula for dialysis access.
The Solution: MEI developed a map image and chose friendly, multicultural photos to help patients navigate through the steps of understanding the types of hemodialysis vascular access, getting a fistula placed, performing aftercare, monitoring, and use. MEI also designed a process to evaluate educational materials produced by a variety of groups to ensure that they were accurate, on message, and easy to read. Materials vetted by this process were organized in logical categories for patients on this site.
Vaccination Fact Sheet for Dialysis Patients
The Challenge: Develop multicultural educational products for a research study.
The Solution: MEI consulted on an multi-center Amgen study to improve dialysis outcomes in New York City. We surveyed the participating clinics, identified the most prevalent languages, and developed easy-to-read materials for vaccination and vascular access topics with a colorful, urban look in each language. These materials are available for download from our Life Options website.
MATCH-D (Method to Assess Treatment Choices for Home Dialysis)
The Challenge: Ensure patient awareness of home dialysis (PD and home HD).
The Solution: MEI advocated successfully with CMS to include the right for patients to learn about all of their dialysis options and where to get them in the Conditions for Coverage for Dialysis Facilities, built a database of all clinics that offered these therapies—and developed a tool to help clinic staff assess patients, address barriers, identify candidates, and document their efforts in patients' charts. The MATCH-D has been adopted by dialysis providers across the US, both large and small, and has been adapted for use by Australia.