Meghan Seaton, Pre-Kidney Transplant Coordinator for LHSC's Regional Renal Program
March 21, 2025
By Meghan Seaton
LHSC’s Regional Renal Program serves approximately 12,500 patients annually and encompasses much of the Ontario Health West Region including Grey Bruce, Lambton, London, Middlesex, Chatham Kent, Huron, Perth, and Oxford counties. The program includes two in-center dialysis units, eight dialysis satellites, home peritoneal and home hemodialysis programs, and numerous general nephrology, progressive, post kidney transplant and specialty kidney disease clinics.
Becoming a Pre-Kidney Transplant Coordinator
I became a member of Team LHSC in 2006 after graduating with my BScN from McMaster University. Looking back, I can see how each role I’ve held previously has contributed to my current success.
Working in general surgery provided me with foundational knowledge and time management skills.
The Multi-Organ Transplant Program introduced me to multidisciplinary teams and their ability to produce great patient outcomes and taught me that my professional opinions and advocacy were valued.
Ambulatory Care taught me about the continuum of care that patients experience. I learned to see beyond the health care silos that are inadvertently created which are often difficult for patients to navigate. Here, I also learned how to be a detective, a teacher, and a change management enthusiast.
The pre-kidney transplant coordinator role was born out of a Renal Program quality review that identified some opportunities for improvement in the pre-transplant phase of care.
I am responsible for facilitating the testing and documentation that patients require prior to having formal transplant assessment, delivering patient and staff education, maintaining positive relationships with the LHSC transplant team, participating in strategic provincial projects via the Ontario Renal Network, and engaging in program quality improvement projects aimed at increasing patient access to transplant - especially living donor transplants.
My favourite aspects of this role are collaborating with professionals across the health system around patient care or quality initiatives and talking about kidney transplant with anyone who will listen to me.
A patient’s journey to transplant
For those that are eligible, kidney transplant (especially from a living donor) is the best treatment option for kidney failure.
In order to be transplanted, patients must navigate many areas of the health care system, including the regional renal program, transplant program, diagnostic departments, specialists’ offices and primary care. The whole journey often takes years. This work truly takes a village. I am in the fortunate position of witnessing how each health care professional supports the patient on their journey to transplant.
It takes a lot of coordination and expertise to bring someone successfully to transplant. For example, clinical clerks and administrative staff in radiology, dialysis, clinics and physician offices are the backbone of every effective team.
The multidisciplinary team at the Multi-Care Kidney Clinic (MCKC) work passionately to educate patients about maintaining kidney health while preparing them for renal replacement options. Renal nurses practice comprehensive, whole person care and establish strong therapeutic relationships with patients. The nephrologists, NPs, residents and fellows are a joy to work with every day and provide their patients with the highest quality of care are dedicated to their patients.
We rely on the expertise from multiple specialists – from the radiologists who continually humour my requests for addendums, to the cardiologists, endocrinologists, hematologists, urologists, immunologists, GI specialists and others at LHSC and throughout the region who efficiently accommodate our patients. Finally, the LHSC transplant team are meticulous in their assessments, and are known throughout the province for their excellent communication and for their support of patients and regional renal program partners.
Program accomplishments
Since starting in this role, our program has made some incredible gains. These achievements would not have been possible without the broad and unwavering support from renal program leaders, patient partners, nephrologists and nurse practitioners and team members across the organization. They have always understood the value transplant brings to patients and the health care system, and they have enthusiastically supported and participated in several quality improvement initiatives.
The numbers don’t lie: each year we are increasing the number of patients being worked up and formally assessed for transplant. For the first year, we have increased the number of living donor transplants beyond the provincial quota set for our program size. Our regional renal program is currently first in the province for the proportion of renal patients who receive a kidney transplant, and second in the province for the number of living donor transplants.
Our work doesn’t stop there. We are implementing early transplant education in the MCKC space, with the goal of supporting more patients to find living donors. We are also investigating strategies to make the initial testing phase more efficient.
I am excited to see what we can accomplish together, and I am so grateful to be part of such a patient-centered team.