Is special taping of the access needed during sleep?
Yes … we do emphasise secure taping perhaps a little more so than the looser taping most patients use during daytime dialysis – but there’s nothing to it. It is more important to use the right taping technique to achieve needle stability rather than layering on masses of tape … but no, we use nothing special. We prefer dull steel buttonhole needles and the buttonhole technique but it really is horses for courses and sharp needles are not taboo. It is important to realise that you don’t have to sleep stiff and immobile … rolling and turning is fine, normal and safe and rarely causes any problems. Some nights are just bad nights (not often, but sometimes eg: maybe the needle is inadvertently against a vein valve) so, ok, no drama just come off if the alarms keep going off and tries again the next night. Most nights are alarm-free (or, at worst, one to two) and this is almost exclusively because you have rolled – and kinked the arterial line. Thats ok – no panic or harm – push ‘mute
