What should a technician monitor for when a patient has a vascular access?

Monitoring for signs of patency, such as the presence of a thrill (a vibrating sensation) and bruit (a whooshing sound) over the vascular access site, is crucial for ensuring the effectiveness and functionality of the access. These physiological signs indicate that blood is flowing adequately through the access, which is essential for treatments such as dialysis.

Maintaining patency helps to prevent complications, like clotting or blockage, which can lead to insufficient dialysis treatment and potential harm to the patient. The thrill and bruit are direct indicators of adequate arterial and venous flow, so their presence is essential for the technician to assess regularly.

While monitoring for signs of infection, skin integrity, and temperature fluctuations are also important aspects of patient care, they do not specifically pertain to the functionality and patency of the vascular access as directly as monitoring for thrill and bruit does. These other factors are critical in the overall management of the patient's health, but they serve different purposes in the context of vascular access monitoring.