Home-visit nursing for peritoneal dialysis: a scoping review of practices and reported outcomes

Background This scoping review aimed to map home-visit nursing practices for patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis and to synthesise reported outcomes and research gaps. The review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines and a pre-registered protocol. Search strategies were developed using controlled vocabulary and free-text terms in English and Japanese, organised into concept blocks for peritoneal dialysis and home-visit nursing and adapted to each database without language restrictions. Main body Records were independently screened by reviewer pairs, and data were charted using a standardised form, with disagreements resolved through discussion or adjudication by a third reviewer. Overall, 21 studies from Japan, Italy, Canada, the UK, China, France, and 1 multi-country study in Australia and Canada met the inclusion criteria. Reported home-visit nursing practices encompassed observing and coaching exchange techniques, setting up automated peritoneal dialysis, providing exit-site care, conducting environmental and supply checks, delivering retraining, offering psychosocial support and coordinating multidisciplinary care. Reported clinical findings included lower peritonitis rates, fewer technique failures, longer technique survival, better dialysis adequacy and fewer complications in individual studies. Reported patient-centred findings included better quality of life, reassurance and lower caregiver burden, with some studies also reporting fewer hospitalisations, longer technique survival or a lower risk of transfer to haemodialysis. However, variability in definitions, intervention components and visit schedules, together with the limited use of comparative study designs and non-standardised outcomes, constrained the strength of inferences. Conclusions The literature mapped in this review described home-visit nursing as providing technical oversight, education, psychosocial care and multidisciplinary coordination, with favourable outcomes reported across several domains. Practices identified across studies included structured monitoring, variable visit schedules according to patient needs and digital follow-up approaches; however, their optimal timing, frequency, intensity and effectiveness remain to be established prospectively.