Pain during arteriovenous fistula cannulation in chronic renal patients on hemodialysis

This study aimed to evaluate pain intensity in chronic renal patients under hemodialysis during the arteriovenous fistula cannulation. It was a cross-sectional study conducted in a hemodialysis clinic in the second semester of 2014. 70 individuals participated in the research and were assessed by the visual analogue scale. The project was approved with opinion number 453.508-2013. During cannulation, the pain reported was moderate in 58.5% of patients, intense in 30% and mild in 11.5%. There was no association between the occurrence of pain in relation to gender, shift and time of hemodialysis. The study points out to the need for pre-cannulation analgesia to improve comfort during the procedure