Results of a new model of videotraining for patients and caregivers for peritoneal dialysis: food for (AI) thought?

Background In an attempt to overcome the space-time limitations of traditional training we used a new telemedicine home-training model (Videotraining). We report our analysis of Videotraining for automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) carried out between October 1, 2017 and September 30, 2023. Methods Videotraining is standardized by breaking down the APD procedures (cycler preparation, connection, disconnection) into steps and recording whether they are performed correctly or not using dedicated software (Recorded Training Procedure-Videotraining). The nurse decides when training is terminated, which can occur only after at least three consecutive error-free procedures. Participants Patients or non-professional caregivers. First-time experience with PD. Training outcomes Number of procedures performed; frequency, trend and type of errors made. Peritonitis, hospitalizations, survival. Predictors: age, gender, native speaker, education, type of trainee (“patient”/“caregiver”), errors made during learning. Results We identified 42 subjects (9 patients and 33 caregivers of 24 patients) that required 414 cycler preparations (median 8/training course; IQR 5–13), 358 connections (median 6/training course; Q1-Q3 5–10), and 307 disconnections (median 6/training course; Q1-Q3 5–8) with great variability among trainees. All successfully completed the Videotraining course. The percentage of errors (7.5% over 27 670 steps) declined rapidly as training proceeded, depending on the type of procedure and step. Both the number of errors during the third procedure and age predicted the duration of training. The nurse's assessment regarding the end of Videotraining coincided with the Recorded Training Procedure-Videotraining’s requisite criteria for termination in 78.6% of cases. In the remainder of cases, the nurse deemed it necessary to proceed with further executions. No peritonitis occurred during Videotraining. Conclusions Recorded Training Procedure-Videotraining makes it possible to personalize training, predict its duration, and help the nurse decide when to end the videotraining course.