Any tips for graft?

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Hi im just new in dialysis and got off training. I need tips for cannulating graft. Im having a hard time for them. As a new nurse I can cannulate 90% of fistulas but for graft im really having a hard time. Sometimes I hit the arterial and then miss the venous or vice versa. Any tips for it? Thanks!

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Hi im just new in dialysis and got off training. I need tips for cannulating graft. Im having a hard time for them. As a new nurse I can cannulate 90% of fistulas but for graft im really having a hard time. Sometimes I hit the arterial and then miss the venous or vice versa. Any tips for it? Thanks!

More experience. It takes time to learn how finesse both.

Grafts and fistulas are different animals entirely. Never approach the one as being similar to the other. Ever.

I've been at this a very long time, and am quite adept at both. That said, I still prefer a wiggly and supple fistula over a stiff, crunchy graft.

At this point you know the book-smart end of cannulation. The hard part is learning to slow down and visualize what is going on beneath the surface as you try to cannulate. Create a mental picture. Master that, and you've got it made.

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Specializes in Dialysis.
Create a mental picture.

This.

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When I started in dialysis, my instructor gave me a piece of rigid iv kind of tubing and a dialysis needle and had me practice with that. I was not too confident that it would be like the "real" deal - but - turns out that once I got the hang of it, the plopping feeling, it was pretty similar to the real deal.

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