Patient-Specific Vascular Anatomy for Bedside Safety: A Targeted Narrative Review and the VASC-N Framework

Canonical vascular diagrams do not capture patient-specific differences in vessel identity, course, depth, calibre, branching, adjacency, dynamic behaviour, or post-procedural route. This targeted narrative review with purposive publication selection had two objectives: to synthesise vascular anatomical evidence relevant to nursing and health professions practice and education, and to use that synthesis to propose an action-oriented conceptual framework. PubMed/MEDLINE and the Web of Science Core Collection were searched from inception to 2 August 2026. After exact DOI and normalised-title deduplication, 1683 unique records underwent title/abstract inspection and keyword-assisted prioritisation; 56 information-rich human anatomical, ultrasonographic, clinical, educational, and sentinel case publications were purposively retained for full-text evidence charting and narrative synthesis. The synthesis identified six interpretive anatomy-to-risk mechanisms: possible vessel misidentification, unsafe neurovascular adjacency, device-vessel mismatch, dynamic positional change, misinterpretation of anomalous central routes, and loss of patient-specific anatomical knowledge between encounters. These categories are qualitative synthesis outputs, not frequency estimates or causal effects. The literature informed VASC-N-Verify; Assess; Scan and distinguish; Choose, adapt, and confirm; and Note, notify, and nurture learning-as an author-developed conceptual framework of proposed observable behaviours. A preliminary Nursing Actionability Test and minimum reporting checklist were also developed. Patient-specific vascular anatomy becomes educationally and clinically relevant when recognition may change a decision, support proportionate verification or escalation, preserve future access, or strengthen assessment. VASC-N and the accompanying tools have not been validated; prospective content-validity, feasibility, reliability, educational-transfer, and clinical-outcome studies are required.