The impact of simulation-based teaching on home hemodialysis patient training

BACKGROUND: Simulation has been associated with positive educational benefits in the training of healthcare professionals. It is unknown whether the use of simulation to supplement patient training for home hemodialysis (HHD) will assist in improving a patient's transition to home. We aim to assess the impact of simulation training on home visits, retraining and technique failure. METHODS: Since February 2013, patients training for HHD are required to dialyze independently in a dedicated training room (innovation room) which simulates a patient's home prior to graduation from the program. We performed a single-center retrospective, observational, cohort study comparing patients who completed training using the innovation room (n = 28) versus historical control (n = 21). The outcome measures were number of home visits, retraining visits and technique failure. RESULTS: Groups were matched for age, gender, race, body mass index and comorbidities. Compared with controls, significantly more cases had a permanent vascular access at the commencement of training (57.1 versus 28.6%, χ(2) P = 0.04). Cases spent a median of 2 days [IQR (1.75)] in the innovation room. Training duration was not statistically different between groups {cases: median 10.0 weeks [IQR (6.0)] versus controls: 11.0 [IQR (4.0)]}. Compared with controls, cases showed a trend towards needing less home visits with no difference in the number of re-training session or technique failure. CONCLUSIONS: Simulation-based teaching in NHHD training is associated with a trend to a reduction in the number of home visits but had no effect on the number of re-training sessions or proportion of patients with technique failure.