Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis: Nurses' Experiences of Teaching Patients

Nine nurses were interviewed to determine nurses' experiences of teaching patients to use continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). The material was analyzed using content analysis. Data were sorted into four themes and ten subthemes. The themes were presented as follows: Importance of language, individualized teaching, teaching needs and structure of care in teaching. The findings highlighted important insights into how nurses experience teaching patients to perform CAPD. The study revealed some barriers for the nurses during teaching. The major barrier was shortage of Arabic speaking nursing staff. Incidental findings involved two factors that played an important role in teaching, retraining and a special team to perform pre-assessments, including home visits. In conclusion, the findings of this study showed several factors that are considered as barriers for the nurses during teaching the CAPD patients and the need to improve the communication and teaching in the peritoneal dialysis units, including the importance of individualized teaching.