Continuous peritoneal dialysis and the extended care facility.

The projected disproportionate increase in the number of elderly patients reaching end-stage renal disease constitutes a dramatic change in dialysis demographics. The nursing home or extended care facility (ECF) will become an increasingly important feature of care for both rehabilitation and long-term patient management. For continuous peritoneal dialysis (CPD), the ECF has been critically evaluated in only a single specialized, university-based, geriatric facility that included trained peritoneal dialysis nurses providing care. We have trained multiple ECF personnel in 10 community-based ECFs to provide all CPD-related therapy for 93 patients between November 1993 and December 1998, for a total of 289.3 patient-months. All ECFs have maintained their CPD program. Outcome measures, including hospitalization, mortality, technique failure, and peritonitis rates, show the success and feasibility of using community-based ECFs for CPD. The use of multiple ECFs for CPD appears to offer distinct advantages over solo structured ECF programs without jeopardizing outcomes. A highly structured CPD education program for ECF personnel by nephrology staff is manageable and appears critical for the success of maintaining CPD in the ECF.