Hand function assessment in peritoneal dialysis patient: a pilot study

The effect of hand fine motor skills on peritoneal dialysis-related peritonitis

INTRODUCTION

We aimed to evaluate the relationship between the hand fine motor skills of peritoneal dialysis (PD) practitioners and PD-related peritonitis.

METHODS

This multicenter prospective observational study was conducted with 120 incident PD patients. Patients were divided into two groups who had PD-related peritonitis within the first year as Group 1, and those who did not as Group 2. Hand fine motor skills were evaluated by Nine-Hole Peg Test (NHPT) and Nut Screwing Test (NST).

RESULTS

Initial NHPT (28.5 ± 6.0 s vs. 25.8 ± 5.0 s, p = 0.011) and NST (82.3 (61.5-102.8) s versus 65.3 (52.3-88.5) s p = 0.023) scores were significantly higher in Group 1 than Group 2. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, NHPT, Body Mass Index, Mini-Mental Test, self PD practitioner, and catheter complications were found to be independent variables in predicting PD-related peritonitis.

CONCLUSION

Decreased hand fine motor skills of PD patients is a risk factor for peritonitis.

Adherence to the ambulatory peritoneal dialysis procedure and limitations of care of older adults or their caregivers

BACKGROUND

Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis is an appropriate technique for older adults and its success is mainly based on the correct exchange technique. However, individuals may present barriers to compliance, due to deterioration of physical and cognitive function, depression, and prevalence of visual impairments.

OBJECTIVE AND METHODOLOGY

A descriptive correlational study was conducted to determine the relationship between adherence to the continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis procedure and the limitations of care for older adults with chronic renal failure or their caregivers. For convenience, 54 participants from two institutions were selected. A home visit was made at exchange times and a certificate of sociodemographic variables was applied, data such as training days, time of performing the procedure and number of home visits they received were included. Adherence to the procedure was evaluated with a checklist of correctly performed steps in the dialysis technique with Ultra Bag® twin bag equipment (from Baxter). To measure care limitations, we evaluated near visual acuity with Jaeger's equivalent primer, visual fields with the confrontational visual field test, manual sensory dexterity and acuity with Moberg's Pick-Up test, cognitive function using Folstein's MMSE, and depressive symptoms using the CES-D20 instrument.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

In adherence to the procedure, participants correctly performed an average of 23.42 (SD ± 5.54) steps, which corresponds to 71.72% of the technique. Regarding care limitations, 55.6% presented impaired near visual acuity, 29.6% visual field deficit, 33.3% impaired manual dexterity, 14.8% alteration in manual sensory acuity, 46.3% possible impairment of cognitive function, and 18.5% depressive symptomatology. Participants with greater adherence to the CAPD procedure had better dexterity in the dominant (p = 0.010) and non-dominant (p = 0.010) hand, better sensory acuity of the non-dominant hand (p = 0.023), and greater cognitive function (p = 0.044). It is concluded that the care limitations (manual dexterity, manual sensory acuity, and cognitive function) are related to adherence to the dialytic procedure.

Development of an instrument to assess self-management capacity of patients receiving peritoneal dialysis: CAPABLE

BACKGROUND

Treatment of kidney failure with peritoneal dialysis (PD) at home implies that the patient and/or their caregiver develop a series of skills and basic knowledge about this therapy. There is not a specific inventory of the patient's abilities to safely perform the PD procedure at home. The objective of this study was to describe the development of an instrument that allows measuring the self-management capacity of patients receiving PD, locating the performance areas that justify the need for intervention by a caregiver.

METHODS

This is a qualitative study developed in three phases: The first phase was the identification of performance areas through bibliographic search and validation of the results with focus groups of experts in PD. The second phase was the design of a system to measure self-management capacities. The third phase was a pilot test of the preliminary version of the instrument applied in 20 incident PD patients.

RESULTS

Three domains were identified to evaluate the fundamental components of self-management capacity: cognitive and sensory, each one evaluated with four items and motor domain evaluated with eight items. After applying the instrument, we found that 15 patients (75%) did not require support from the caregiver in any of the items. PD patients and nurses found the tool valuable, easy to understand and applicable in the early evaluation of a PD patient.

CONCLUSIONS

We developed an easy-to-administer instrument to measure the self-management capacity of patients receiving PD. This inventory could locate areas that require specific support from a caregiver. Planning an individualised and focused education and training process could result in better health outcomes.