Peritoneal dialysis: its potential for use in the community hospital.

Peritoneal dialysis is a treatment of proven efficiency for a variety of disorders. Experience with 53 peritoneal dialyses performed on 28 patients over a three-year period at two community hospitals without permanent house staffs is summarized. Proper adherence to a few basic principles can lead to a very low incidence of complications, especially those of an inflammatory nature. This form of dialysis has considerable potential for the small community hospital. Training programs should make the knowledge and skill of this technic available to those wishing to learn it, and especially to those considering practice in communities removed from the medical center.