Adding Pals to KidneyPal: Creating a Virtual Patient and Family Advisory Council for Kidney Palliative Care

• DOI: 10.1089/jpm.2023.0108
• Publication Date: 2023-08-25T19:34:20Z
• Authors: Kimberly Mendoza; Kelsey Killeen; Joshua R. Lakin; Richard E. Leiter; Kate R. Sciacca; Samantha L. Gelfand
• Keywords: Equity; Advisory committee

Patient and family advisory councils (PFACs) represent one method of engaging patients families in clinical program development research, but existing practices too often exclude marginalized minority voices. As a kidney palliative care team (KidneyPal) at large academic medical center, we sought to create PFAC that explicitly considered equity inclusion its approach advisor recruitment. We developed two major innovations reduce selection bias our KidneyPal PFAC: adaptation an entirely virtual process alteration the recruitment enrollment process. eliminated several potential barriers participation for their members, population with higher rates advanced age, nonwhite ethnicity, limited English proficiency than local general population. removed application requirements including lengthy online training modules, detailed employment history, personal essay, criminal background check. The may act as model improving patient councils.