Peritoneal Dialysis for Nurses

Peritoneal dialysis is a treatment for kidney failure that uses the lining of your abdomen, or belly, to filter your blood inside your body. Health care providers call this lining the peritoneum. After a training period, patients who are maintained on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis assume responsibility for their own treatment. With the aid of appropriate tools, home visits help with the ongoing evaluation and training for these patients. The research presumed conducting home visit survey of 50 patients maintained on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis in Sudan. Housing conditions, home environment, and patients or caregivers knowledge about peritoneal dialysis and the exchange procedure were evaluated using structured data collection sheets. Scores were compared with infection rates in the patients before the home visit. The proposed evaluation form is a valid and reliable assessment tool for the follow-up of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis patients. Patients in the upper quartile of knowledge score demonstrated better adherence to the recommended treatment protocols and lower infection rates.