Protecting Restricted Extremities: The Implementation of a Pink Wristband

Nurses should protect the affected extremities of patients who have a permanent arteriovenous access for hemodialysis by avoiding blood pressure measurements and venipuncture on access extremities. National recommendations include labeling the affected extremity with an alert mechanism, such as a wristband, to notify patients and staff of arteriovenous access. A policy change was enacted at an academic medical center in the Southeast to identify restricted extremities with a pink "limb alert" wristband after review of national recommendations on hemodialysis access preservation, individual facility procedures, product cost-benefit analysis, and unit and system educational methods. Keeping simplicity, nursing workload, and flexibility at the forefront of implementation, evaluation, and process revision, an overall adherence rate of 84.2% was achieved three months after implementation of the policy.