Grant: Planning Grants - Priority Announcement: Nutrition, Metabolism & Diabetes

In 2010 discussions occurred between three clinicians engaged in exercise programs across Canada and the United States and the Principal Investigator (who evaluates exercise programs for chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients). They established the "Exercise and Renal Failure On-line Community". Two issues became apparent: first, a face-to-face meeting is essential and second, there is a need to include the increasing number of isolated researchers from a variety of disciplines engaged in exercise programs for CKD patients. To date, there has been no attempt to bring these various individuals together. Subsequently, efforts have been fragmented and valuable lessons and promising practices lost simply because there is no structure for collaboration. This gap has meant that local discoveries about exercise among CKD patients haven't been developed into methodological and theoretical frameworks. Our activity is to establish the first Pan-Canadian Renal Rehabilitation Network in order to improve the health and well-being for Canadians with CKD and this proposal will provide funding to support an inaugural meeting of this group (Renal Rehabilitation Network Congress) in April/May 2012. A multi-perspective group of attendees is planned: CKD patients, clinicians, researchers, and health representatives. This two-day event will 1) provide an opportunity for clinicians and researchers engaged in delivering exercise programs to CKD patients to network and exchange information; 2) identify barriers to and markers of successful implementation of renal rehabilitation programs in Canada and the United States; 3) produce a comprehensive report of current renal rehabilitation initiatives from representative programs across Canada; 4) identify gaps in the literature and/or clinically identified barriers that could be addressed through research; 5) build partnerships and create a coordinated research network to increase the evidence base for renal rehabilitation.