Quality in practice: setting a standard for the insertion of fistula needles

Nursing research, involving haemodialysis patients completing mood diaries, conducted at St. James' Hospital in Leeds, has indicated that consecutive problematic haemodialysis sessions can significantly affect a patient psychologically (1,2). In response to these findings a nursing standard was set at the Lincoln Haemodialysis unit, a satellite unit of Leicester General Hospital Department of Nephrology, to identify pain on needle insertion.