IngentaConnect Compliance in peritoneal dialysis: A qualitative study of renal n...

Authors: McCarthy, Alexandra; Cook, Peta S¹; Fairweather, Carrie²; Shaban, Ramon³; Martin-McDonald, Kristine⁴

Source: International Journal of Nursing Practice, Volume 15, Number 3, June 2009 , pp. 219-226(8)

Abstract:

McCarthy A, Cook PS, Fairweather C, Shaban R, Martin-McDonald K. International Journal of Nursing Practice 2009; 15: 219-226

Compliance in peritoneal dialysis: A qualitative study of renal nurses

End-stage renal failure is a life-threatening condition, often treated with home-based peritoneal dialysis (PD). PD is a demanding regimen, and the patients who practise it must make numerous lifestyle changes and learn complicated biomedical techniques. In our experience, the renal nurses who provide most PD education frequently express concerns that patient compliance with their teaching is poor. These concerns are mirrored in the renal literature. It has been argued that the perceived failure of health professionals to improve compliance rates with PD regimens is because `compliance' itself has never been adequately conceptualized or defined; thus, it is difficult to operationalize and quantify. This paper examines how a group of Australian renal nurses construct patient compliance with PD therapy. These empirical data illuminate how PD compliance operates in one practice setting; how it is characterized by multiple and often competing energies; and how ultimately it might be pointless to try to tame `compliance' through rigid definitions and measurement, or to rigidly enforce it in PD patients. The energies involved are too fractious and might be better spent, as many of the more experienced nurses in this study argue, in augmenting the energies that do work well together to improve patient outcomes.

Keywords: adherence; compliance; peritoneal dialysis; renal nursing

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1440-172X.2009.01747.x

Affiliations: 1: Lecturer, School of Sociology and Social Work, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia 2: Deputy Head, School of Nursing and Midwifery El Ain Campus, Faculty of Health, Griffith University, El Ain, United Arab Emirates 3: Lecturer, Griffith University Research Centre for Clinical and Community Practice Innovation and the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, Australia 4: Head, School of Nursing, Victoria University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

The full text electronic article is available for purchase. You will be able to download the full text electronic article after payment.

$49.48 plus tax Refund Policy