Need Finding in Peritoneal Dialysis with Mobile Eye Tracking

Background: In the German Code of Social Law V in §5 (7), paragraph a, the text states: “Only patients may be treated with “dialysis in a center”, who need this type of dialysis due to their clinical picture. However, the reality looks quite different. Objectives: This drawback was the motivation for a need finding study to find approaches to lower the access limitation to the peritoneal dialysis (PD) therapy, the most common home dialysis modality. The need finding study was conducted using mobile eye tracking with experienced and novice dialysis patients. Methods: The dialysis patients were visited at home and accompanied in all therapy handling steps to gain insights of the user experience of PD from a first-person view. The data analysis was not limited to the single central therapy steps but included also the preparation phase and the therapy handling steps as a whole. Results: In total, eight possibilities could be identified which promise to facilitate the access to home dialysis like a waste handling and managing system or a novel PD furniture. The most promising was a controller for PD which increases the safety against use errors and the comfort for the patient. Conclusions: For many patients, the use of an auto-connect device could increase safety and ease of use for patients. In addition, it could enhance standardization of the therapy process. Based on the eye tracking results, feasibility was proven with a functional prototype and a start-up was initiated for the further development and market readiness of such a device, with the public launch targeted in 2018