Final answer:
The nurse would prepare the patient for insertion of a percutaneous catheter at the bedside for immediate hemodialysis as this provides quick, temporary vascular access, unlike arteriovenous fistulas or grafts which require maturation time and hence are not suitable for immediate use. Option number a is correct.
Step-by-step explanation:
If a patient requires immediate hemodialysis and lacks vascular access, the appropriate intervention would be the insertion of a percutaneous catheter at the bedside. This is because creating an arteriovenous fistula or an arteriovenous graft would take several weeks to mature and cannot be used for immediate dialysis. In contrast, percutaneous catheters can provide temporary vascular access for hemodialysis quickly.
Hemodialysis is a medical procedure for patients with kidney failure in which wastes, such as urea, and excess water are filtered out of the blood by passing it through a machine with a semipermeable membrane.
While percutaneous tunneled catheters can also be used for dialysis, they require a small surgical procedure to place the catheter under the skin, which may not be feasible in an emergency situation requiring immediate treatment.