Arteriovenous Fistula Management

This book provides healthcare professionals with comprehensive information on arteriovenous fistula (AF) as a vascular access. It is structured into topics that focus on aspects relevant to this day-to-day care.
In this book, two areas of attention are highlighted, one focused on the dialysis professional (promoting assessment skills and maintaining access) and the other on empowering the patient to care for the fistula. No book in the literature has this perspective.
The assistance model of care developed by Clemente Sousa shows that the existence of a structure with focus areas to specifically care for people with arteriovenous fistula facilitates the development of cognitive skills and the acquisition of skills that allow nurses to identify and diagnose early changes in the AF functioning. This structure reorganizes and outlines the areas of care where the nurse can help maximize the longevity of the arteriovenous fistula and minimize the implications for health systems.
In this book, the information is systematized using this assistance model to improve AF care and, simultaneously, minimize as much as possible the complications of access through the inclusion of the patient.
This book establishes an integration between the aspects of preparation, development, and maintenance of arteriovenous fistula, relating them to the needs of the individual and the need for nurses and health professionals to promote continuous improvement of care.

Clemente Neves Sousa, PhD, RN, is a professor at the Porto School of Nursing, Portugal. He is a researcher at RISE Health. He develops research projects on vascular access in dialysis and has published numerous articles on vascular access, especially arteriovenous fistulas, hemodialysis, and clinical practice in nephrology nursing. He is the scientific coordinator of the Grupo de Estudos Vascular (GEV) - Vascular Access Center. He is President of the Portuguese Association of Dialysis and Transplant Nurses and a member of the Brazilian Nephrology Nurses Association and the European Association of Dialysis and Transplant Nurses/European Association of Renal Care. He is a board member of the Vascular Access Society and the Renal Health Professionals Working Group. He is a member of the International Society of Nephrology.
Nurten Ozen, PhD, MSc, RN, is an Associate Professor at Istanbul University Faculty of Nursing in Turkey. Dr. Ozen completed her master and PhD degrees at Gulhane Military Medical Academy School of Nursing in Turkey. She has published articles on vascular access, especially arteriovenous fistulas, and haemodialysis. She is a certified hemodialysis nurse and specializes in vascular access. Dr. Ozen is serving as a member of Vascular Access Society (member of research and education committee), Turkish Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation Nursery Association, Turkish Society of Clinical Enteral & Parenteral Nutrition, Turkish Association of Critical Care Nurses, Critical Care Doctoral European Nurses Group (Critical Care DEN) and European Federation of Critical Care Nursing Associations (EfCCNa).
Paulo Teles, Ph.D., is a professor at the School of Economics of the University of Porto, Portugal. He is a researcher at LIAAD-INESC Porto LA. His research interests include renal disease, clinical practice in nephrology, haemodialysis, vascular access, particularly the arteriovenous fistula. He published numerous articles on these issues and supervised research on Chronic renal disease and dialysis.