Patient-Reported Barriers to the Prekidney Transplant Evaluation in an At-Risk Population in the United States:

Background:Despite our knowledge of barriers to the early stages of the transplant process, we have limited insight into patient-reported barriers to the prekidney transplant medical evaluation in populations largely at-risk for evaluation failure.Methods:One-hundred consecutive adults were enrolled at an urban, Midwestern transplant center. Demographic, clinical, and quality of life data were collected prior to patients visit with a transplant surgeon/nephrologist (evaluation begins). Patient-reported barriers to evaluation completion were collected using the Subjective Barriers Questionnaire 90-days after the initial medical evaluation appointment (evaluation ends), our center targeted goal for transplant work-up completion.Results:At 90 days, 40% of participants had not completed the transplant evaluation. Five barrier categories were created from the 85 responses to the Subjective Barriers Questionnaire. Patient-reported barriers included poor communication, physical health, socioeconomics, psychosoci...