From the "PD First" policy to the innovation in PD care

Due to the rapid growth of peritoneal dialysis (PD) program under the "PD First" policy of Thailand, it is necessary to have many voluntary well-training PD staffs and a good education program for PD nurses to serve an excellent PD outcome. In the present study novel devices, which could be practically used in PD patients, were developed by the creative PD trainee idea of to facilitate PD self-care and decrease work load of PD staffs.

Young PD nurses in the 3rd generation of PD trainee program from King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital were assigned to develop novel tools in order to assisting patient care in real practice. The efficacy of these inventions and patient satisfaction were assessed by comparing with the standard method.

The authors presented two interesting innovations in the present study. The first one, "Troubleshooting Wheel", contained six common complaints and the advice for correcting each problem in the platform of rotating wheel. Participants could solve problems more rapidly than using the standard handbook for PD (p < 0.01) and also found the correct responses more frequently than the handbook (p < 0.01). The second one, "Exit Site Abacus", the sliding platform with automatic calculation of the sum of exit site score, was the easier method in evaluating the exit site infection than the conventional exit site scoring using the Prowant's table or their own memory.

Reinforcement of the development of PD nursing program not only increases the number of PD staffs but also contributes to the innovations for improving quality of PD care by the young new staffs.