Abstract No. 573 Radial versus femoral access: is there a preference among nursing care providers?

Abstract

To examine preference for radial or femoral access for visceral arterial interventions among nursing staff responsible for post procedural care. In September 2018, 100 surveys were sent to nurses in the cardiac and interventional radiology recovery unit, 48 of whom completed the survey. On a 5-point Likert scale, nurses responded to whether they disagree or agree with 10 encouraging statements regarding radial arterial access (Table 1). An average of these 10 scores was calculated and an average score >/= 4 for a nurse was considered to be favorable for radial access. Based on their years of experience, nurses were categorized into “more experienced” or “less experienced” if they had more than or less than 10 years of experience, respectively. Surveyed nurses had an average of 16.7 years of experience with a standard deviation of 10.2 years. The median value for 9 out of 10 statements regarding radial access was a 5; the median value was a 4.5 for the statement “Radial access requires less nursing care.” Nurses responded most favorably to the statements “Radial access is less embarrassing” and “Radial access lets patients go home sooner,” with 93% (43/47) of nurses either strongly agreeing or agreeing. Among the 48 nurses, 40 nurses had a cumulative average score >/= 4. A chi-square test of radial favorability vs. level of experience yielded a chi-square statistic of 1.2 and a p-value of 0.273 (not significant at p <0.05). Nurses tend to prefer radial over femoral access when caring for patients who have undergone interventional radiology procedures, independent of years of experience. Nursing care is not likely be an impediment to the initiation of a radial access program.Table 1Radial Access QuestionnaireRadial access is more comfortable.Radial access causes less pain.Radial access is less embarrassing.Radial access is more convenient.Radial access has fewer vascular complications.Radial access has fewer bleeding complications.Radial access lets patients go home sooner.Radial access requires less nursing care.Radial access allows for easier nursing monitoring.Radial access is better for patient care. Open table in a new tab