Nursing approach to the use of buttonhole and rope ladder cannulation of arteriovenous fistula based on a survey in Nigeria

The main purpose of this study is to examine the nursing aspect of two types of cannulation techniques and to investigate the outcomes of using cannulations on an arteriovenous fistula, as well as analysing their impact on outcome. Data were collected using a self-developed questionnaire. Data were obtained from haemodialysis (HD) patients in Rivon Dialysis Centre in the city of Rivers State named Port Harcourt with over 60 HD patients and with over 15 HD nurses. Only 50 patients met the inclusive criteria after answering the questionnaire, 25 for rope ladder (RL) and 25 for buttonhole (BH) and 10 nurses chosen answered the questionnaire. This study revealed that patients who are using the BH cannulation technique reported a better outcome than the RL group patients. Patients reported lower occurrence of complication, for instance, out of 25 patients, 8 of them using the BH and 15 of them using the RL reported to have infection. Based on the results, it is possible to conclude that the patients who are cannulated with the RL cannulation technique have a higher risk of experiencing complications than the patients using the BH site cannulation technique.