Experience of the homecare of children on automatic peritoneal dialysis during the COVID-19 outbreak: A qualitative descriptive study.
Qing Zhou, Rui Zhao, Xia Shen and 5 others
PMID 36397267WHAT IT FOUND
Families caring for children on home peritoneal dialysis during early COVID-19 worried about infection, supplies, hospital visits and money.
They stayed home, used dialysis training for disinfection, and relied on phone or WeChat support from doctors and nurses.
Key findings
01Families worried about their child's PD treatment and possible COVID-19 infection; some also worried about supplies, delayed hospital visits and financial hardship.
02Caregivers contacted their care team and peer groups for help, including a WeChat group with doctors and nurses and switching to manual dialysis when cassette delivery stopped.
03Families made avoiding infection their top priority, staying home and using asepsis and disinfection training to intensify cleaning and personal protection.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Telephone interviews did not capture nonverbal information, actions or environment. Only 14 families were interviewed, and caregivers who declined, could not be reached or were not approached may differ from those who took part. Interviews happened only about 10 to 15 days after the Wuhan shutdown, so experiences in later phases of the pandemic may differ. Interviewers were nurse researchers from the hospital where families were followed, which may have affected responses. No interviewed family had confirmed, suspected or observed COVID-19, so the study does not describe infected families.
Declared interests
All authors declared no competing interests. Funding came from Emergency COVID-19 Research Funding of Children's Hospital of Fudan University.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the reported resilience and normality as evidence that home peritoneal dialysis care was successful during lockdown. It is a qualitative study of experiences, not a test of whether care was successful or whether children stayed well.