Development of a Virtual Reality application for home haemodialysis training

Project Description

Patients entering end-stage kidney disease often need dialysis prior to transplantation - this may be delivered as in-centre dialysis (haemodialysis), or peritoneal dialysis. Increasingly, patients are offered home haemodialysis, with proven benefits in several aspects of renal replacement. However, the care burden of any home-based therapy is predominantly on patients and carers, with home HD recognised to be very anxiety-provoking and potentially isolating.
We propose the development of a virtual reality application based on home HD. The application will provide the 'experience' of setting up and delivering a home HD session, and provide a comprehensive training package on the same for families/carers wishing to undertake this. The intention is that this would supplement (not replace) in-person training in hospital facilities, but may allow a reduction in the time required to become competent in home HD delivery.