In Australia and New Zealand PD-related infections are the major causes of morbidity and PD technique failure. The burden of PD-related infections, such as recurrent or severe exit site infections and peritonitis, is both high and unacceptably variable between different centres, with the variation appearing to be driven by centre-related factors rather than patient-related factors. Some of the centre-specific disparity in outcomes, including peritonitis rates, has been attributed to minimal attention paid to potentially modifiable centrespecific peritonitis risk factors, including training practices.

TEACH-PD is a registry-based, pragmatic, multi-centre, multinational, clusterrandomised controlled trial (CRCT), randomising PD units to implement TEACH-PD training modules targeted at PD trainers and incident PD patients versus standard existing practices. The modules will be implemented at PD units in Australia and New Zealand to formally evaluate whether, compared with standard care, a standardised training curriculum will reduce the rate of PD-related infections and improve technique survival, resulting in better outcomes for patients receiving PD and significant cost-savings to the community.