Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
BMC Nephrology
ISSN
1471-2369
Volume
20
Issue
1
First Page
197
Last Page
197
PubMed ID
31151432
Publisher
BioMed Central
School
School of Nursing and Midwifery
RAS ID
28845
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Successful vascular access (VA) cannulation is integral to the delivery of adequate dialysis, highlighting the importance of ensuring the viability of arteriovenous access in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Missed VA cannulation can lead to infection, infiltration, hematoma or aneurysm formation resulting in the need for access revision, central venous catheter (CVC) placement, or permanent loss of VA. Cannulation-related complications can also negatively impact on a patient's dialysis experience and quality of life. This study aimed to identify patient, VA and nurse factors associated with unsuccessful VA cannulations.
METHODS: A prospective cohort study was conducted in HD patients with a permanent VA from three HD units. Data on patient, VA and nurse characteristics, plus, cannulation technique were collected for each episode of cannulation. General Estimating Equation was used to fit a repeated measures logistic regression to determine the odds of cannulation success.
RESULTS: We collected data on 1946 episodes of cannulation (83.9% fistula) in 149 patients by 63 nurses. Cannulation included use of tourniquet (62.9%), ultrasound (4.1%) and was by rope ladder (73.8%) or area (24.7%) technique. The miscannulation rate was 4.4% (n = 85) with a third of patients (n = 47) having at least one episode of miscannulation. Extravasation (n = 17, 0.9%) and use of an existing CVC (n = 6, 0.6%) were rare. Multivariable characteristics of successful cannulation included fistula compared with graft [OR 4.38; 95%CI, 1.89-10.1]; older access [OR 1.68; 95%CI, 1.32-2.14]; absence of stent [OR 3.37; 95%CI, 1.39-8.19]; no ultrasound [OR 13.7; 95%CI, 6.52-28.6]; no tourniquet [OR 2.32; 95%CI, 1.15-4.66]; and lack of post graduate certificate in renal nursing [OR 2.27; 95%CI, 1.31-3.93].
CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated a low rate of miscannulation. Further research is required on ultrasound-guided cannulation. Identifying variables associated with successful cannulation may be used to develop a VA cannulation complexity instrument that could be utilised to match to the cannulation skill of a competency-assessed nurse, thereby minimising the risk of missed cannulation and trauma.
DOI
10.1186/s12882-019-1373-3
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Coventry, L. L., Hosking, J. M., Chan, D. T., Coral, E., Lim, W. H., Towell-Barnard, A., ... Rickard, C. M. (2019). Variables associated with successful vascular access cannulation in hemodialysis patients: A prospective cohort study. BMC Nephrology, 20, Article 197. Available here