Haemodialysis and Venous Needle Dislodgement(VND)
Occasionally during haemodialysis the needle connecting the blood line from the dialysis machine may become disconnected from the fistula site. For example, this can happen if a patient who suffers from restlessness, dementia or mental illness deliberately or accidentally removes it from the vascular access.
This can result in blood loss from the patient.
While the dialysis machine itself may detect a line disconnect due to a pressure drop and trigger an alarm, these alarms are not always reliable. And, if the clinical staff are also unaware that a line disconnect has occured then a back-up alert for a possible blood leak at the fistula site may be appropriate.
Anzacare, with over 25 years' experience in developing patented moisture detectors and alarm systems, has developed such a back-up device in consultation with dialysis clinics in North America and the UK. The independently tested HEMOdialert™ is an effective and reasonably-priced moisture detection alarm which will trigger in contact with conductive fluids including blood.