On behalf of a medical technology company, I’m looking for information on how common it is for the venous needle to dislodge during hemodialysis, and during what circumstances this have happened. How was this handled by medical staff? Do you use any methods to detect a possible bleeding due to venous needle dislodgement?
We know that incidents are frequent, and that consequences can be serious, but not all incidents are reported. I am very grateful for any input you may have on this matter. Thanks!
I just wanted to note that I spoke with Katarina at a national meeting, and she did request permission in advance to post a question on this topic. We don’t permit any sort of questions of this sort without that advance permission.
[QUOTE=Katarina;13471]On behalf of a medical technology company, I’m looking for information on how common it is for the venous needle to dislodge during hemodialysis, and during what circumstances this have happened. How was this handled by medical staff? Do you use any methods to detect a possible bleeding due to venous needle dislodgement?
We know that incidents are frequent, and that consequences can be serious, but not all incidents are reported. I am very grateful for any input you may have on this matter. Thanks![/QUOTE]
Hi Katarina,
Personally, I have never had a needle come out when I was in-center with serious blood loss. I know the rule is to always keep the access arm uncovered in order to keep the access in sight. But I found I could not follow that rule as they usually kept it too cold in the unit and I was frozen even with blankets… But I had the sense to keep my arm as still as possible so the needles didn’t go anywhere. Nevertheless, there were frequent incidents with other patients losing their needles all the time. I don’t know if it was their ven. or art. In what context are you speaking when you say venous needle dislodgement?
[quote=Katarina;13471]On behalf of a medical technology company, I’m looking for information on how common it is for the venous needle to dislodge during hemodialysis, and during what circumstances this have happened. How was this handled by medical staff? Do you use any methods to detect a possible bleeding due to venous needle dislodgement?
We know that incidents are frequent, and that consequences can be serious, but not all incidents are reported. I am very grateful for any input you may have on this matter. Thanks![/quote]
I would have to say that it has happened to me but not in-center. Between 2004 and now it has happened twice! Luckily, I was awake and was able to detect swiftly.
The problem was the tape, sometimes it just melts off the skin…cheap tape perhaps? Combine that with basic movement like lowering your legs from recliner and you have a problem there. Other problems is like what Jane mentions…keeping warm under the blankets and I think the warmed makes the tape melt off…
[quote=Dori Schatell;13481]Hi y’all,
I just wanted to note that I spoke with Katarina at a national meeting, and she did request permission in advance to post a question on this topic. We don’t permit any sort of questions of this sort without that advance permission.[/quote]
Katrina mentions she’s from a medical company and refers to in-center…Is that the reason why? This board is all about home dialysis…
Gus, the product that she works with could be used for in-center or home dialysis, and would be especially useful for nocturnal. But I’ll let her decide whether to describe what it is, because it isn’t FDA approved in the US yet, so they have to be very careful.
Thank you so much for your answers and comments! It is true that we haven’t heard about many incidents with venous needle dislodgement in home dialysis, they happen more frequently in-center. But in many countries, they want to make it possible for more people to have home dialysis (not all countries have the same experience as the US), and this is one of many safety aspects that come on the agenda. In Australia for example, we know they use enuresis pads for a lot of home dialysis patients but they have shown an interest in trying alternative methods.
As Dori mentioned, the product that made me put these questions is not yet approved in the US. It does have European approval though and will probably be available in the US this autumn. By then, I will provide Dori with more information to the Helpful Products Catalogue. Already, the procuct has been displayed at the Annual Dialysis Conference in Denver (february) so if you would like to know more beforehand, please contact me outside of this forum: katarina@hillve.se
What reactions have you got from medical staff when incidents have happened? Was it considered routine for which they were prepared?
Later this year we will probably feature in various international articles. If any of you would like to share your experience from an incident related to venous needle dislodgement in home hemodialys (or in-center) I would be very grateful. Please contact me a: katarina@hillve.se
(Yes I’m Swedish!!)
Hi Jane,
I refer to the needle in your vein. If the artery needle is disconnected, the dialysis machine sounds an alarm. In most cases it doesn’t if the venous needle disconnects and the result is blood loss. The statistics I have for the US says between 7 and 10 deaths are reported every year, but that there are probably many more unreported incidents. You mention “frequent incidents” in the center. In Sweden, we have no reported deaths but there are about 150-250 incidents reported every year, with varying seriousness.
I understand your point about the blanket. I know dialysis is tiring and most patients want to relax under a blanket during the treatment. You shouldn’t have to worry about the needle, nor should the staff in centers. More and more patients require dialysis which means centers become larger, with more patients for the staff to monitor.
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question!
I have the experience of my needle moving out of site during at night home dialysis…but now I do it during the day and no problems because I try to stay still most of the times. My nurse just gave me last month some sort of “double tape” made specialy for dialysis needles. You tape the “butterfly” and it mantains the needle in place 100%. When is time to pull out the needles, I untape the wings of the butterfly and then pull out the needle…