In this course, learn about self-cannulation, how to teach your patients (or their care partners) how to cannulate using rope ladder cannulation, whether they dialyze in-center or they choose to do home HD, and cannulation troubleshooting.
Objectives
- Explain how patients can benefit from learning to self-cannulate.
- Compare and contrast indications for the Buttonhole technique vs. Rope ladder.
- Idenity what role(s) Cushion Cannulation and Tandem Hand Cannulation techniques play in easing patient transition to self-cannulation.
- Describe the common pre-treatment, intra-treatment, and post-treatment events that your patients may need to troubleshoot and what to do.
Accreditation for this course expires October 31, 2026.
Learners must complete the entire activity, receive a score of at least 80% on the post-test, and complete the course evaluation to be awarded contact hours. Learners can print or save their completion certificates and should keep them for a minimimum of 4 years. It is the responsibility of the learner to determine if these CE contact hours will be accepted by a particular licensing organization.
- Nurse Planner – Steffanie Gissal, BSN, RN
- Authors – Jennifer Ravert, RN and Dori Schatell, MS
This class is part of our Self-guided Program to Advance Renal Knowledge (SPARK) series of online CE learning + professional mentoring education classes for nurses and dialysis technicians. Our goals are to help dialysis nurses and technicians stay up-to-date with their training and certifications—and to attract new interest in nephrology as a career. This activity was funded, in part, by an unrestricted educational grant from Fresenius Medical Care.
