Checking your access every day takes under a minute and catches most problems while they are still easy to fix.
What to know
- Feel for the thrill — the buzzing vibration — every morning and evening. Its absence is an emergency.
- Listen for the bruit with a stethoscope if you have been taught to.
- Wash the access site daily with soap and water; keep it clean and dry.
- No blood pressure cuffs, blood draws, drips or tight sleeves on the access arm.
- Do not sleep on the access arm or carry heavy bags with it.
Talk to your care team
This topic is part of Vascular Access Care, one of ten modules in the Trivita Learning Hub. If anything here contradicts what your own nephrologist or dialysis nurse has told you, follow your care team — they know your prescription, your access and your history.
Trivita's dialysis nurses answer our care line 24 hours a day on 055 242 1070, including for people who are not yet our patients.
Education, not medical advice. This page explains home hemodialysis in general terms for patients and care partners in the UAE. It is reviewed by Trivita's Medical Director but cannot account for your individual circumstances. Never change a prescription, medication or technique based on this page alone.