Summer Scholarship Projects 2011-2012
Project Name: Clinical practice guidelines on the assessment and acceptance of potential kidney transplant recipients: a systematic review
The research project will be undertaken at the Centre for Kidney Research at the Children’s hospital at Westmead
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Description of Project:
Kidney transplantation improves survival and quality of life outcomes for patients with end-stage kidney disease. Patient eligibility to receive a transplant from a living kidney donor or to be accepted on the deceased donor kidney transplantation waiting list is at the discretion of the transplanting physician. However, there is variability of opinion on the suitability criteria for kidney transplantation. Nephrologists need to make complex decisions about patient suitability for transplant which involve consideration of multiple clinical, psychological and social factors. Clinical practice guidelines provide explicit recommendations to influence clinical decision making. This study aims to compare the quality, scope and consistency of international clinical practice guidelines on the assessment and acceptance of patients for kidney transplantation
This study will involve a comprehensive search to identify all relevant clinical practice guidelines on the assessment and acceptance of patients for kidney transplantation, critical appraisal of the guidelines, and synthesis of guideline recommendations with the use of computer software for coding textual data. The student will contribute as a co-author on the manuscript for publication in an international, peer reviewed clinical journal. They will acquire valuable transferable research skills in literature searching and screening, critical appraisal of clinical practice guidelines, coding of textual data using specialist computer software, presentations, reference management and manuscript writing. The student will also have an opportunity to collaborate with expert leaders in the field.
