Abstract: 【Abstract】 Objective For the carrying out educational program to patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) before dialysis, we retrospectively reviewed the selection of dialysis method at the beginning of dialysis in ESRD patients, and investigated the factors relating to the selection of dialysis method in these patients. Method We recruited 60 patients who received hemodialysis (HD) or peritoneal dialysis (PD) for 6~18 months, and retrospectively studied their primary diseases, the reason for dialysis, emergent dialysis treatment, final decision of the dialysis method, the person making decision to the dialysis method, and their knowledge about his/her dialysis. Results (a) Forty of the 60 patients (66.7%) had received emergent dialysis. Patients without emergent dialysis had higher knowledge scores about dialysis than those with emergent dialysis. (b) Emergent dialysis was more frequently encountered in the patients finally selecting HD as the treatment method than in those selected PD as the final method. (c) The decision of dialysis method was made by patients themselves in 43.3% patients, by physicians in 36.7% patients, and by physicians as well as their families in 20% patients. The patients selecting dialysis by themselves had higher scores about dialysis knowledge and higher scores about active acquisition of the information. Conclusion The factors relating to the selection of dialysis method are patients’ knowledge about dialysis, their attitude towards acquisition of dialysis information, and their emergent dialysis experiences.

Key words: Hemodialysis, Peritoneal dialysis, Dialysis knowledge