Touch contamination during bag exchange in Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis (CAPD) is a common cause of CAPD-related peritonitis. An innovative 3D-printed assistive device "Helping Hands" was designed to minimize direct touch of tubing during CAPD bag exchange to allow a safer connection process for patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) to reduce the risk of CAPD-related peritonitis. Through this randomized control, the investigators aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of "Helping Hands" in CAPD bag exchange procedure for patients on CAPD therapy.
The study will be conducted in the Renal Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH). All new CAPD patients using Ultrabag Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) system will be screened and invited to participate in this study by occupational therapist or nurse. Patients with cognitive impairment, psychiatric illness, acute illness that requires frequent hospital admissions (\>3 episodes with hospital stay over 1 week), or current adoption of other type of assistive device in CAPD bag exchange will be excluded. Eligible patients will be randomly allocated to either intervention group (using "Helping Hands") or control group. Participants in both arms will receive a standard 5-day CAPD training program and then perform a competency test for bag exchange conducted by an independent Advanced Practice Nurses. Irrespective of grouping, participants will receive brief phone interviews by clerks (who did not take the role as investigators) from the QEH Renal Unit with two sets of questionnaire measuring their health related conditions at 4 time points i) A0 (baseline); ii) A1 (last day of CAPD training); iii) A2 (4-month post-training follow-up); and iv) A3 (8-month post-training follow-up). Intervention group will receive additional training on using "Helping Hands" as assistive device in performing bag exchange and will have extra follow-up assessment at the 4th and 8th month post-training to ensure their competence in using "Helping Hands" device to perform CAPD exchanges. Relevant clinical data, such as peritonitis record, will be collected during their routine follow-up in the dialysis center or by clinical medical system. This is a non-inferiority study with the objective of establishing the safety and efficacy of "Helping hands" device for patients doing CAPD bag exchanges using UltraBag PD system. Primary outcome of the study is CAPD peritonitis rate and transfer set contamination rate between the two groups. The secondary outcomes are overall health conditions measured by two sets of standardized and reliable questionnaires: The short-form General Health Questionnaire (SF-36, Chinese version) and Depressive Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21, Chinese version). \[May refer to sessions of "Outcome measures" and "Eligibility" for details\]
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
40
Training served as "Treatment As Usual" (TAU) for all participants; The difference between two groups was whether "Helping hands" were provided to participants for CAPD bag exchange procedures at home.
Renal Unit, Department of Medicine, QEH
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
RECRUITINGPeritonitis Rate
Peritonitis rate, in episodes per patient-year, as calculated by record of episodes of peritonitis and total number of patient months. Stratification of this outcome measure into intervention/ control arm for survival analysis could represent device safety.
Time frame: From the date of randomization until the end of the study (1 year post-training follow-up) or date of drop-out (e.g., peritonitis, death, refusal to participate in the study... etc) whichever came earlier, assessed up to 36 months.
Health Scores
Health Scores as measured by short-form General Health Questionnaire (SF-36, Chinese version) which consisted of i) physical functioning, ii) role limitations due to physical health, iii) role limitations due to emotional problems, iv) energy/ fatigue, v) emotional well-being, vi) social functioning, vii) pain, and viii) general health with scores ranging from 0 (the worst) to 100 (the best).
Time frame: Through study completion, an average of 9 months at 4 timepoints: A0 (baseline), A1 (up to 1 month from recruitment to scheduled training session, and recorded at the end of the 1-week training), A2 (4-month post-training), A3 (8-month post-training).
Depressive Level
Depressive Level as assessed by the short-form Depressive Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21, Chinese version). Of 21 questions in DASS-21, 7 were extracted to calculate a sub-total score of the depression level, ranging from 0 to 21 (Normal = 0 - 4; Mild = 5 - 6; Moderate = 7 - 10; Severe = 11 - 13; Extremely Severe = 14 - 21).
Time frame: Through study completion, an average of 9 months at 4 timepoints: A0 (baseline), A1 (up to 1 month from recruitment to scheduled training session, and recorded at the end of the 1-week training), A2 (4-month post-training), A3 (8-month post-training).
Anxiety Level
Anxiety Level as assessed by the short-form Depressive Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21, Chinese version). Of 21 questions in DASS-21, 7 were extracted to calculate a sub-total score of the anxiety level, ranging from 0 to 21 (Normal = 0 - 3; Mild = 4 - 5; Moderate = 6 - 7; Severe = 8 - 9; Extremely Severe = 10 - 21).
Time frame: Through study completion, an average of 9 months at 4 timepoints: A0 (baseline), A1 (up to 1 month from recruitment to scheduled training session, and recorded at the end of the 1-week training), A2 (4-month post-training), A3 (8-month post-training).
Stress Level
Stress Level as assessed by the short-form Depressive Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21, Chinese version). Of 21 questions in DASS-21, 7 were extracted to calculate a sub-total score of the stress level, ranging from 0 to 21 (Normal = 0 - 7; Mild = 8 - 9; Moderate = 10 - 12; Severe = 13 - 16; Extremely Severe = 17 - 21).
Time frame: Through study completion, an average of 9 months at 4 timepoints: A0 (baseline), A1 (up to 1 month from recruitment to scheduled training session, and recorded at the end of the 1-week training), A2 (4-month post-training), A3 (8-month post-training).
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