Hi again,
I have been on dialysis for 14 months, in the unit I am attending, the RN's needle us in the majority, using 15 or 16 guage needles. I met a visiting dialysis patient from canada, he self canulated and he uses a needle called a Supercath CLS. this was similar to small IV needles. These needles have a teflon sheath with an inner regular needle, upon insertion the needle part is removed leaving the sheath. This patient also did a thing called button holing. I was very interested in this technique, it improves pump speed by upto one third causes less to no pain and he was able to do it all himself without some @#$*&G nurse missing the vessel. As some one who has had up to 9 attempts at getting needles in by incompetant nursing staff I was VERY interested in this new technology from Canada, I am interested to hear from anyone, anywhere who knows more about this approach.
regards
Peter Fraser
Upside down down under