Introduction: Considering the increasing incidence of chronic kidney disease and the increased use of peritoneal dialysis, we wanted to assess whether the multidisciplinary management of patients in peritoneal dialysis might produce improvement in the quality of patients' lives when compared to management by a routine team of operators.
Methods: Our study observed 40 patients on peritoneal dialysis in our Department between 2010 and 2012. They were randomly assigned to either group A, the routine team which consisted of a nephrologist and a nurse, or group B, a multidisciplinary team comprising several medical specialists, a nurse, a psychologist and a social worker. Two tests, KDQOL-SF and MMPI-2, were administered to both groups.
Results: In group B, the number of days of hospitalization and day hospital were more than 88% lower when compared to group A. The multidisciplinary team achieved better results with the KDQOL-SF test with regards to both emotional and objective dimensions. The Pearson coefficient between the results of the two questionnaires shows how multidisciplinary management can positively influence the perceived well-being of the patient and his or her adherence to treatment.
Conclusions: In a multidisciplinary team, each operator, in addition to his or her specific role, also contributes to the achievement of the overall objective, namely of ensuring an optimal quality of life to the patient on peritoneal dialysis thereby allowing these patients to continue their professional and social lives.