In the U.K. in the last five years a reassessment of the central role of the hospital has taken place, with a fundamental shift in care for people with increased dependencies to community settings. For patients using peritoneal dialysis a need has been realized for a home-visiting service by specialist renal nurses who can manage and coordinate the program of care, thus reducing the strain on hospital resources. In addition, the provision of a community nurse to visit the patient at home means that ongoing education and training can be undertaken in a suitable learning environment. The home-visiting program creates an opportunity to develop an holistic care plan using strategies of general health promotion as well as practical nursing care. This paper highlights the experiences of a pioneering model of community continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis care in the South London. Auditing of this unusually funded post has shown significant reductions in peritonitis, exit-site infections, and hospital admissions in this growing patient population.

Our objective was to examine the influence of various demographic, clinical, and enrollment biochemical variables on the long-term survival of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients. This was a prospective cohort study investigating the relationship between demographics and enrollment biochemical markers and mortality in CAPD patients in a CAPD unit in a large tertiary care teaching hospital. One hundred and sixty-nine patients in the CAPD program were enrolled between 1989 and 1994, and were followed up to 60 months. Independent predictors of mortality determined by Cox proportional hazards model included age, diabetes, serum albumin and creatinine. Enrollment level of serum albumin, and creatine can predict mortality in CAPD patients up to 60 months. Markers of visceral and somatic nutrition at enrollment are important predictors of mortality in CAPD patients up to five years.

Many diabetic foot complications are preventable. This requires a team approach, aiming to identify the high-risk patient and provide appropriate education and foot care. An established ulcer needs careful management with the emphasis on pressure relief and establishing a good blood supply.

P eritonitis is a common and serious complication of peri- toneal dialysis (PD).Although less than 5% of peritonitis episodes result in death, peritonitis is the direct or major contributing cause of death in around 16% of PD patients (1-6).In addition, severe or prolonged peritonitis leads to structural and functional alterations of the peritoneal membrane, eventually leading to membrane failure.Peritonitis is a major cause of PD technique failure and conversion to longterm hemodialysis (1,5,7,8).Recommendations under the auspices of the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis (ISPD) were first published in 1983 and revised in 1993, 1996, 2000, 2005, and 2010 (9-14).The present recommendations are organized into 5 sections:1. Peritonitis rate 2. Prevention of peritonitis 3. Initial presentation and management of peritonitis 4. Subsequent management of peritonitis 5. Future research These recommendations are evidence-based where such evidence exists.Publications in or before December 2015 were reviewed.The bibliography is not intended to be comprehensive.When there were many similar publications on the same area, the committee included articles that were recently published.In general, these recommendations follow the Grades of Recommendation Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system for classification of the level of evidence and grade of recommendations in clinical guideline reports (15).Within each recommendation, the strength of the recommendation is indicated as Level 1 (We recommend), Level 2 (We suggest), or not graded, and the quality of the supporting evidence is shown as A (high quality), B (moderate quality), C (low quality), or D (very low quality).The recommendations are not meant to be implemented in every

High-quality peritoneal dialysis (PD) catheter insertion pathways are essential for optimal access to the therapy. Dialysis outcomes are influenced by a range of patient and center-related factors, and there is a need to better understand these so that catheter insertion pathways can be better matched to individual circumstances. To examine how patient- and center-related factors influence the choice of catheter insertion pathways for a PD patient, and the impact of such factors and pathways on patient outcomes, and specifically, to compare the occurrence of and recovery from PD catheter-related adverse events and mortality in individuals who had surgical catheter insertion with those who had medical catheter insertion, and evaluate health economics. A prospective multi-center cohort study of incident PD patients at catheter insertion. This is an ancillary study nested within the International Peritoneal Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (PDOPPS). Patients will be recruited during a 30-month recruitment period at 45 United Kingdom (UK) renal facilities, with a minimum 12-month follow-up. A graphical Markov model will be fitted to describe the associations between patient demographics, comorbidities, and catheter insertion pathways that are not explained by center practices and their impact on the occurrence of catheter-related adverse events, and patient-reported outcomes. The model will also explore the extent to which the catheter insertion pathway is determined by the center practice patterns, accounting for patient mix. Multi-state models will compare the rate of occurrence of a PD catheter-related adverse event, recovery from this, and mortality in individuals who had surgical catheter insertion compared with those who had medical catheter insertion, accounting for competing events, and adjusting for patient and center factors. A health economics evaluation will establish which, if any, catheter insertion pathway is superior in terms of cost effectiveness. The study will provide information on which catheter insertion pathways are better according to individual characteristics and whether it is acceptable for dialysis units to rely on a single catheter insertion technique or whether they should invest in developing flexible pathways that incorporate both medical and surgical PD catheter insertion techniques.

Early-onset peritonitis is a serious complication of peritoneal dialysis (PD) and is associated with heightened risks of technique failure and death. The risk factors for early peritonitis and its outcomes are unknown. This registry study examined all incident Australian PD patients between 2003 and 2014. The primary outcome was early peritonitis, defined as onset within 12 months of starting therapy. Secondary outcomes were medical cure, relapse/recurrence, catheter removal, peritonitis-associated technique failure, and peritonitis-associated death. Of 9,845 patients, 2,615 experienced 3,827 early-peritonitis episodes (0.50 episodes per patient-year). Early peritonitis was more common in patients who were male, obese, had a history of cigarette smoking or cerebrovascular disease, used continuous ambulatory PD, and had received prior renal replacement therapy for > 90 days. Remoteness was a risk modifier for the association between race and early peritonitis; remote Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, Maori and Pacific Islander patients had the highest risk. Obese patients were more likely to achieve medical cure. Older patients were less likely to achieve cure and more likely to experience peritonitis-associated death. In summary, several factors predicted early peritonitis in incident PD patients. Modified approaches to patient selection, training techniques, and prevention strategies should be considered in high-risk individuals.