Purpose:This study aimed to investigate the differences in cognition and behavior of PD patients for dialysis exchange after receiving education on the technique “cognition education tool”. Methods:This study used a cross-sectional design and structured questionnaire. Patients receiving chronic continuous ambulatory PD in a medical center at northern Taiwan between January 1st and December 31st, 2015 were enrolled. A standardized educational course of dialysate exchange technique, named “cognition education tool”, was introduced to enrollees by PD nurses. We used a structuralized questionnaire, consisting of dialysate exchange knowledge and procedures in the form of 15 items, to evaluate PD patients before and after the implementation of the educational course. A paired t-test was used for comparison. Results:A total of 63 PD patients were enrolled. Among these patients, 50% were females and 50% were males, and 77.8% performed dialysate exchange by themselves. 77.8% received PD for more than 2 years. All items of the questionnaires improved significantly after education. Of note, patients’ knowledge and their exchange procedure also improved significantly for key items 6 and 5, respectively. We suggested that the provision of the knowledge education tool could be beneficial for better PD dialysate exchange in these patients. Conclusion: Patient education about dialysate exchange technique, can ameliorate PD patients’ cognition and behavior at home. Knowledge and techniques of PD patients can be reinforced with regular “cognition education tool”, therefore patients’ self-awareness and dialysate exchange behavior could be improved. Furthermore, this tool may potentially reduce the incidence of PD-associated infectious complications.