Theoretical knowledge and adherence to peritoneal dialysis procedure by the patient or a family member

Introduction: Patient and family should know the essential concepts and possess motor skills for conducting continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. Therefore, education of patient and family about the care of home dialysis is carried out by nurses, however, patients with complications continue going to the hospital. Objective: Determine the level of knowledge and adherence to the dialysis procedure by the patient or a family member. Methods: A descriptive study was conducted. In a home visit the following instruments were applied: a checklist to assess adherence to procedure, a questionnaire to assess the theoretical knowledge and a questionnaire of clinical and sociodemographic variables. They involved 24 subjects. They were divided into patient group (PG), where patients self-perform the procedure and family group (FG), where family carried out the technique. Results: The level of knowledge was generally moderate (73.24%), the PG obtained a higher rate (75.35%) than the FG (71.45%). In general, on the technical knowledge there was an adherence of the 80.3% to the steps, the FG obtained higher correct index (81.92%) than the PG (78.63%). Conclusion: Patients and families show a deficit in both areas, so it is necessary to evaluate them periodically to detect failures in technique and knowledge that predispose the patient to a preventable complication (AU)