Empowerment of patients in the process of rehabilitation.

The management and appropriate treatment of peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients is an ongoing challenge in current health care. We believe that health education-consisting of knowledge, skills, and self-awareness-is a useful mechanism for patient empowerment. Patients should have an awareness of their disease, and as health care providers, PD nurses have the role of focusing their patients on preventive care, rather than of simply training patients. An empowerment program is a valuable intervention for improving the self-management of patients. It can both improve quality of life and assist in rehabilitation.