Frequency of nursing care of vascular access in hemodialysis patients

Background: Hemodialysis is a critical treatment method, which depends on the vascular access route. Lack of care for the vascular access route could diminish its efficiency in a short time. Regarding this, the present study aimed to evaluate the frequency of nursing care for vascular access route in the hemodialysis patients. Methods: 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. The method of nursing care for vascular access route was evaluated using a researcher-made checklist. The data analysis was performed using the descriptive statistics in the SPSS version 16. Results: 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 the catheter tubing, frequent monitoring of blood pressure, rinsing the catheter tubing, 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 the care related to appropriate pump speed when starting the dialysis machine (81.66%), observance of the needle distance from fistula (75.83%), appropriate placement of catheter (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. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, some of the nursing care steps, which are necessary in the beginning and end of the hemodialysis, were not accurately followed by the nurses. It is recommended that constant training courses be held for the nurses in this regard.