Vascular access pros and cons

[ANNEAF]

What are the advantages of vascular access program?

[cs65]

If you are talking about arteriovenous fistulas and grafts, they are considered much safer accesses than a chest catheter. The in chest catheter is a direct route to the heart, and any infection could potentially go straight to the heart and be very dangerous. Using an AV fistula is usually considered the safest way to go - the nurse or technician washes her hands before putting on gloves. She is covered from head to foot with a mask, head shield, gloves and gown before she even starts on a patient. Gloves have to be changed at every step of the process from disinfecting the access to inserting the two needles to taping them down so they don't move to connecting the tubes to the dialysis machine tubes to adjusting the controls on the dialysis machine. You get the picture. It is just as careful at the end of the session when the needles have to be removed and the patient or the nurse/tech holds the sites down firmly with a gloved hand. I have not had experience with peritoneal dialysis, but I have heard that peritonitis can happen and is very painful. Oh, and I also use a numbing cream an hour before my dialysis session, so I usually don't even feel when they put the needles in.

[ANNEAF in reply to cs65]

Thank you so much for the thorough respone