Sources of information on renal conditions used by families

Information for families on their child's renal condition is an essential part of clinical care and our unit has produced a number of booklets and audiovisual materials. We wished to evaluate whether our information strategy needed to be updated, especially with the increasing use of the internet. Families attending general renal (GR) ( n=84) or chronic renal failure (CRF) ( n=42) clinics completed a questionnaire about the sources of information they had used. The commonest source was booklets (86% of CRF and 48% of GR, respectively). Many of the CRF group obtained information from other families, members of the multidisciplinary team, and television programmes. Internet usage was quoted by 23% of families from the CRF group and 20% of the GR group. The survey encourages us to continue updating our present booklets and audiovisual materials with development of material for internet use. Renal units should be encouraged to assess their own information strategy.