LifeBridge Health Dialysis Access Center - Patient Education

How should I take care of my vascular access?

You can take the following steps to protect your access:

• Make sure your nurse or technician checks your access before each treatment
• Keep your access clean at all times
• Use your access site only for dialysis
• Be careful not to bump or cut your access
• Don’t let anyone put a blood pressure cuff on your access arm
• Don’t wear jewelry or tight clothes over your access site
• Don’t sleep with your access arm under your head or body
• Don’t lift heavy objects or put pressure on your access arm
• Check the pulse in your access every day

The Dialysis Access Center health care team can help you learn more about how to care for your access site. For a copy of the booklet Getting the Most From Your Treatment: What You Need to Know About Hemodialysis Access, contact:

National Kidney Foundation
30 East 33rd St.
New York, NY 10016
1–800–622–9010 or 212–889–2210
www.kidney.org