[Educational scheme for patients on home peritoneal dialysis in Spain]

The objective of the present study is to obtain information about the training programme for patients undergoing Domiciliary Peritoneal Dialysis (DPD) in Spain. For the purposes of the study we designed a questionnaire comprising 50 closed-ended items and one open response item. The questionnaire was sent to 104 hospitals and was completed by 78.84% of them (n > or = 82). The average of patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis (PD) in the hospitals under study was 27.6: 15.8 of them receiving Chronic Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis (CAPD) and 11.8 Automatic Peritoneal Dialysis (APD). The questionnaire also served to investigate into the training methodology used in the different units, the involvement of the family in the programme, the basic knowledge patients received about Chronic Renal Insufficiency, the procedures associated with the therapy and the preparation they obtained to solve small-scale contingencies and emergency situations as well as the improvement of their quality of life. We also evaluated the training programme of autonomous patients on DPD and at the end of the questionnaire a blank space was left for facilities to add any comments or suggestions they considered relevant. From the results obtained we may conclude that most Spanish hospitals have devised a training planning for patients undergoing PD which helps them or caregivers to perform domiciliary treatment safely, provides them with basic knowledge about the disease and the routine procedures associated with the treatment, enables them to cope with contingencies and emergency situations and improves their quality of life during the dialysis period.