Should my Center listen to my Fistula with a Stethoscope?

[iolaire]

When I first started dialysis in December my center listened to my Fistula with a Stethoscope (it was two years old).  Since they only feel the fistula before inserting the needles.  But they have signs up on some machines telling patients to ask for them to listen to the Fistula with a Stethoscope…

So my question is it important to ask that my center regularly listen to my Fistula with a Stethoscope?

Second question – what do you call the people who insert the needles and monitor things, are they nurses or a tech?  I know the head nurse must be a nurse, but I don’t know anything about the other people’s education/certification level.  I’ve called them techs but they could just as well be nurses.

[obsidianom]

Its a good idea to listen to the fistula to see if it changes its sound over time . Also any abnormal noise should be noted. So yes its a good idea to do it. You  may pick up a potential problem sooner that way.
In most clinics there are some nurses and more techs. Each clinic is satffed diferently. In ours when my wife was in center they had 2 nurses and about 5 techs at a time.

[Cowdog]

Hi iolaire,
Its important that your fistula be listened to regularly but I think you'd be better served if you learned to monitor it yourself. You're listening for changes in the sound, pitch and worst case a whistle. In my center I may not see the same nurse or tech for a month. They don't even remember if I had a fistula last time they saw me much less what it sounded like (200 patients on 5 shifts). My fistula has required a lot of maintenance due to stenosis but seems to have much fewer/less frequest problems since I started sticking myself. I monitor mine with a stethoscope, I log my venous pressure, arterial pressures and pump speed each treatement. I log my Ktv for each treatment. I also log flow study results done on the machine. Using that info I can look for trends in loss of performance in the fistula. When i see a problem developing I request a refferral for a fistulagram.
I also have a great interventional nephrologist who i see every 3 months for a flow study and visual/feel evaluation. My typical flow is 1800-2000ml/min.