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Fistula Lab Report

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The surgical procedure that I observed was the creation of an arteriovenous fistula. The purpose of an arteriovenous fistula is to make a connection between the native artery and vein in an extremity through surgery. The surgical procedure that I saw performed, which was done by a vascular surgeon, was an AV fistula on the upper right arm. These fistulas are used for hemodialysis and accessed/used for dialysis 2-5 times per week. Basically, the vascular surgeon creates this fistula so as to provide easier/more reliable access to the patient’s blood vessels. Fistulas provide vascular access for health care providers to be able to administer dialysis in a much faster and safer way. The AV fistula takes about 2-3 weeks to mature before it can be used for hemodialysis. The surgeon chose an arteriovenous fistula over an arteriovenous graft. The …show more content…

The surgical technician worked closely with the surgeon to pass him the correct surgical tools and pass him anything he would need should they be out of his reach or if a complication arose. She prepared and pre-counted all of the tools including any type of gauze that would need to be accounted for at the end of the procedure to avoid leaving any tools inside the patient. The circulating nurse’s job was to monitor vital signs to make sure the patient is stable during the procedure, keep track of surgical tools, and provide the surgical technician/surgeon any tools they may need. The circulating nurse also charted all of the information about the patient such the start and end time of the procedure, what position the patient was in, the patient’s vital signs, the side of the patient the procedure would be on and what procedure was being done. The circulating nurse also initiated the time out, wherein all members of the surgical team time out and verify that they have the correct patient, correct procedure and site of

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