Cath Lab Digest

Our team consists of:

30 RNs

3 RN coordinators for cardiac catheterizations and percutaneous coronary interventional (PCI) procedures

3 secretaries

3 patient service associates

2 patient administration associates

1 patient care manager

1 clinical educator

7 interventional cardiologists

3 in-house invasive cardiologists

2 outside invasive cardiologists

3 interventional cardiology fellows

What is the mix of credentials at your lab, and how long have staff members been in residence?

All RN staff are ACLS-certified and hold either a co

What is the size of your cath lab facility and number of staff members?

We have six invasive suites:

3 cardiac catheterization,

diagnostic/interventional

1 multi-purpose

1 electrophysiology (EP) lab

1 peripheral angiography lab

All labs are single-plane.

A 24-bed prep & recovery unit is immediately adjacent to the labs. Eight of the 24 beds are staffed on all three shifts from Monday to Saturday noon. The labs are scheduled Monday through Friday from 0700 to 1700. The remaining hours are covered by an on call team.

The staff consists of ap

What types of procedures are performed at your facility?

We perform diagnostic procedures (right and left cath, intravascular ultrasound, myocardial biopsy), percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) (stenting, rotoblator, thrombectomy, and brachytherapy), and cardiac electrophysiology procedures [EPS, ablation, cardioversion, tilt table test, implantation of pacemakers, event monitors, automatic intracardiac defibrillators (AICDs) and biventricular devices, and post-implant defibrillator testing]. We perform an average of 110 diagnostic caths, 60 PCIs, 6 EPS studies, 2 ablations and

What type of procedures are performed at your facility? >

We do coronary angiograms, angioplasties and stenting, intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and Pressure Wire® (Radi Medical Systems, Wilmington, MA), intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) insertions, temporary and permanent pacemaker insertion, automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (AICDs) and bi-ventricular pacemakers, electrophysiology studies and ablations, cardioversions, arteriovenous (AV) fistulograms and fistula angioplasties, difficult peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC lines), carotid stenting, peripher

We have 18 full-time clinical staff, consisting of RNs, RT(R)s, and CVTs. The staff that are employed here all have significant amounts of interventional radiology, cath lab, and cardiology experience. The average experience for our staff is over five years in the lab.

What type of procedures are performed at your facility?

We perform everything from diagnostic heart caths to complex interventional cases. We have the AngioJet® (Possis Medical, Inc., Minneapolis, MN) and X-Sizer® thrombectomy system (ev3 Inc., Plymouth, MN). We use intra-aortic balloon pumps on many of our ST-