Variability in Culture-Negative Peritonitis Rates in Pediatric Peritoneal Dialysis Programs in the United States

PD effluent specimen collection: Your questions answered

When a patient on peritoneal dialysis (PD) presents with suspected PD-related peritonitis (e.g. cloudy PD fluid and abdominal pain), one of the most important initial aspects of management is for the nephrology nurse/home dialysis nurse to collect PD effluent specimens for white blood cells count, Gram stain, culture and sensitivity for inspection and to send for laboratory testing before antibiotics are started. A review by seven members of the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis (ISPD) Nursing Committee of all 133 questions posted to the ISPD website 'Questions about PD' over the last 4 years (January 2018-December 2021), revealed 97 posted by nephrology nurses from around the world. Of these 97 questions, 10 were noted to be related to best practices for PD effluent specimen collection. For our review, we focused on these 10 questions along with their responses by the members of the ISPD 'Ask The Experts Team', whereby existing best practice recommendations were considered, if available, relevant literature was cited and differences in international practice discussed. We revised the original responses for clarity and updated the references. We found that these 10 questions were quite varied but could be organised into four categories: how to collect PD effluent safely; how to proceed with PD effluent collection; how to collect PD effluent for assessment; and how to proceed with follow-up PD effluent collection after intraperitoneal antibiotics have been started. In general, we found that there was limited evidence in the PD literature to answer several of these 10 questions posted to the ISPD website 'Questions about PD' by nephrology nurses from around the world on this important clinical topic of best practices for PD effluent specimen collection. Some of these questions were also not addressed in the latest ISPD Peritonitis Guidelines. Moreover, when polling members of our ISPD Nursing Committee we found when answering a few of these questions, nursing practice varied within and among countries. We encourage PD nurses to conduct their own research on this important topic, focusing on areas where research evidence is lacking.

An initiative to improve effluent culture detection among pediatric patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis through process improvement

BACKGROUND

Peritonitis is a significant cause of morbidity and healthcare cost among pediatric patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis. Culture-negative peritonitis has been associated with an increased risk of technique failure. Known risk factors for culture-negative peritonitis are related to the process of collection and sample processing for culture, but additional studies are needed. A culture detection rate of 16.7% was identified among our patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis, which is below the national benchmark of ≥ 85%. Our primary objective of this quality improvement project was to improve culture detection rates.

METHODS

Interventions were developed aimed at standardizing the process of effluent collection and laboratory processing, timely collection and processing of samples, and addressing other modifying risk factors for lack of bacterial growth from culture. These interventions included direct inoculation of effluent into blood culture bottles at bedside and use of an automated blood culture system. Two Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles were completed prior to moving to the sustain phase.

RESULTS

The culture detection rate improved from 16.7% (pre-intervention) to 100% (post-intervention). A decrease in the median process time also occurred from 83 min (pre-intervention) to 53 min (post-intervention). An individual and moving range chart identified a decrease in both the centerline (mean) and upper control limit, indicating that the process became more reliable during the sustain phase.

CONCLUSIONS

An improvement in process time and culture positivity rate occurred following standardization of our PD fluid culture process. Future studies should be aimed at the impact of the components of collection and processing methods on the effluent culture yield. A higher resolution version of the Graphical abstract is available as Supplementary information.

Reduction in peritonitis rates: 18-year results from the most active pediatric peritoneal dialysis center in China

BACKGROUND

Most of the available epidemiological data on peritonitis have been derived from developed countries. Limited data from China have been reported.

METHODS

An 18-year (2001-2018) peritoneal dialysis (PD) program at the Children's Hospital of Fudan University was described, and data on peritonitis were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTS

Since 2001, a program with a comprehensive PD care bundle has been developed, and 283 patients (53.7% male, median age 9.3 years) were enrolled between 2001 and 2018. Among these patients, 117 peritonitis episodes occurred in 68 (24.0%) patients over 4896 patient-months. The peritonitis rate decreased 20-fold from 2.2 episodes per patient-year in 2003 to 0.11 episodes in 2018. The culture-negative rate decreased from 68.7% during 2001-2006 to 18.5% during 2013-2018, and the proportion of gram-negative and fungal infections increased significantly from 6.6 to 33.8% and 0 to 9.2%, respectively (p < 0.001). Short stature as height ≤  - 2 SD (OR 2.35, 95% CI 1.30-4.24, p = 0.005) and PD duration ≥ 1 year (OR 3.38, 95% CI 1.76-6.49, p < 0.001) were independently associated with a higher risk of developing peritonitis. Of the 117 peritonitis episodes, 9.4% required permanent removal of the catheter, among which half were fungal infections. Patients with peritonitis had a higher risk for PD technique failure (p = 0.006), but there was no difference in estimated patient survival rates and no patient death due to peritonitis.

CONCLUSIONS

With the successful development of the PD program and care bundles per the International Society of Pediatric Dialysis (ISPD) guidelines, peritonitis rates have been tremendously reduced in the most active pediatric PD center in China. Growth deficits and a long PD duration were risk factors for developing peritonitis, requiring further close monitoring for a better outcome. A higher resolution version of the Graphical abstract is available as Supplementary information.