Edinburgh Napier University

  Learning how to do dialysis at home can be stressful for patients and families. For children, families may not have the opportunity to meet with dialysis-experienced patients as end-stage kidney disease is rare. Parents may have to decide on the type of dialysis or agree to undertake dialysis training, without a full understanding of what this entails.We have developed a prototype virtual reality application which provides a realistic simulation of setting up, connecting, and disconnecting a peritoneal dialysis session for a child. Interviews with families, nursing staff, and nurse specialists, helped identify the key areas that training should cover. A multimedia library was created to allow recreation of all aspects of a dialysis session. The program was developed, with several versions tested by medical and nursing staff to identify any areas that needed to change.A small number of families have tried out the application– all were impressed with it and reported that they could see a real place for it in training patients in the future. Two families used the application before any kind of training – both said it was very helpful and made them less stressed before starting. A formal assessment of the application is planned.