Frequency of nursing care of vascular access in hemodialysis patients

Hemodialysis is a critical treatment method, which depends on the vascular access route. Lack of care for access route could diminish its efficiency in a short while. This study aimed to evaluate the frequency of nursing care for vascular access route in hemodialysis patients.
This cross-sectional study was conducted on 20 nurses and 120 hemodialysis patients, who referred to the Hemodialysis Department of Shahid Beheshti Hospital, Babol, Iran, in 2015. We evaluated the method of nursing care for vascular access route using a researcher-made checklist. Data analysis was performed in SPSS, version 16, using descriptive statistics.
In total, 14 cases of nursing care were evaluated, in 100% of which all the caring steps, including wearing gloves and a mask, early bolus injections of heparin, washing lines, frequent monitoring of blood pressure, rinsing the lines, returning the blood to the body after hemodialysis, and sterile covering of the puncture site, were observed. However, some of the other techniques, such as care related to appropriate pump speed when starting dialysis machine (81.66), observance of distance of fistula needles (75.83%), right placement of needle after exit (75%), pressing the injection site (54.17%), blood pressure monitoring at the end of dialysis (50%), and change of the needle site between two sessions (27.5%), were not adhered to by the nurses.
According to the results of this study, some of nursing care steps necessary in the beginning and end of hemodialysis were not accurately followed by the nurses. It is recommended that constant training courses be held for nurses in this regard.