Abstract Background Including patient care technicians (PCTs), who spend the most chairside time with patients receiving hemodialysis, in monthly interdisciplinary patient care conferences (PCCs) may provide the dialysis care team with valuable patient information and improve PCTs’ sense of belonging on the team. We assessed the implementation of including PCTs in PCCs (“In-Tech”). Methods In this pre-post pilot study, In-Tech was implemented at both clinics for 6 months (March–August 2025) by dialysis care team members (nephrologists, nurses, social workers, dietitians, PCTs) at two independent dialysis clinics. In pre- and post-intervention surveys of PCTs and other dialysis care team members, organizational readiness for, acceptability of, appropriateness of, and feasibility of In-Tech were measured via items from validated instruments, and the value of In-Tech was measured via ad hoc items. Results Of 21/37 (pre-/post-implementation) survey respondents, 33%/32% were > 50 years old, 57%/64% were women, 35%/41% were Asian, and 25%/35% were Pacific Islander. Most (> 80%) found In-Tech to be acceptable; organizational readiness (76–81% vs. 65–73%), appropriateness (81% vs.73%), and feasibility (81% vs. 70%) were higher in pre- vs. post-intervention surveys. PCTs were less likely than other care team members to express the value of PCTs attending PCCs (73–80% vs. 86–96%) and to report they were encouraged to share their thoughts (60% vs. 100%) or that their input was valued (60% vs. 100%) during PCCs. Open-ended responses emphasized the value of the patient–PCT relationship, difficulty scheduling PCCs to accommodate PCTs, the need for PCT guidance in their contributions to PCCs, and the desire to continue In-Tech beyond the pilot. Conclusions While including PCTs in PCCs appears to be implementable and valuable to the care team, future studies should address implementation challenges and ensure that PCT input is explicitly valued by the care team. Clinical trial number Not applicable.
Plantinga et al. (Sat,) studied this question.