Abstract: Objective  To analyze the needs of peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients for medical institutions, in order to provide ideas for optimizing resource allocation and improving PD home management.  Methods  Purposive sampling method was used to select PD patients who were followed up at Renji Hospital, Shanghai JiaoTong University School of Medicine in June 2024, and the recruitment was stopped based on the principle of information saturation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the PD patients. The Colaizzi's 7-step analysis method was adopted for data analysis.  Results  A total of fifteen PD patients were ultimately included. Based on the interview results, 3 themes and 8 sub-themes were extracted: self-management difficulties (information perception difficulties; limited work and life; poor accessibility to follow-up; disease and emotional distress), phased change characteristics of needs (hospitalization management needs; home self-management needs), hierarchical needs for medical treatment in medical institutions (hospital treatment needs; community service needs).  Conclusions  During the self-management of home PD, patients encounter multiple obstacles and the service needs present differentiated stages. Medical staff should strengthen the accessibility of medical resources and improve the support systems.

Key words: Peritoneal dialysis, Self-management, Needs of medical institutions, Qualitative study