Author Philip Cenci is our inaugural winner of the Einstein Award this month, an award suggested by board member Steve Gressmire. Cath Lab Digest will reserve this award for those cath lab professionals sharing ideas that are simple in concept but cause the reader to exclaim (as did one of our board members), Man, why didn™t I ever think of that! Congratulations to Mr. Cenci, and I encourage those of you who have either a shortcut or pathway to better patient care, increased efficiency, or even management issues, to share your simple but brilliant concept with us.

Cath Lab Digest has featured the interesting results of automating inventory before in our pages, but never have we displayed such dramatic before and after photographs. Christus St. Frances Cabrini Cath Lab has reduced their inventory by 54% and now save almost $25,000 each month in inventory costs due to automation.

Don™t miss CLD™s 10-minute interview this month with Scott Fylling of Bay City, Michigan, who has spent 18 years in cardiology. His biggest challenge, he notes, is getting and keeping three different groups of physicians (cardiology, vascular surgery, and radiology) working together in the area of peripheral interventions. As we™ve talked with various cath lab professionals and physicians, it seems many of you struggle with this issue but my sense is that the overall trend is more positive than less, one where everyone soon comes to realize that it is better to work together for the sake of the patient. I had the good fortune to attend the recent Vascular Disease Summit meeting in San Diego (April 20-22), where Dr. Frank Criado gave a wonderful keynote address on the current status of the peripheral interventional field. He commented that from his perspective as a vascular surgeon turned endovascular specialist, he initially found it very depressing to realize that the field he trained so intensely for and committed his life to has undergone such dramatic alteration. I don™t think there is anyone who has worked in medicine for a long time who has not faced a variation on this theme or may one day face it (advanced gene therapy, anyone?). Ultimately, we balance these dilemmas against the incredible increase in quality care available to patients, an exciting and ongoing result in itself.

"Knowledge is the one thing no one can ever take from you."

Rebecca Kapur
Managing Editor
CathLabDigest@aol.com