On March 31“April 1, 2007, Wake Medical Center (WakeMed) in Raleigh, North Carolina continued its long tradition of supporting cath lab professional education by hosting its second Registered Cardiovascular Invasive Specialist (RCIS) Board Review Course (the first WakeMed review course was held in August 2005).

Wake AHEC is one of nine AHEC centers located throughout North Carolina and is affiliated with the North Carolina Health Education Centers Program of the School of Medicine of the University of North Carolina. The mission of the AHEC Program is to meet the state's health and health workforce needs by providing educational programs in partnership with academic institutions, health care agencies, and other organizations committed to improving the health of the people of North Carolina. The facility offers continuing education programs throughout the year for health care professionals.

The cardiovascular orientation program was held in the WakeMed Heart Center Conference Center and attended by over 60 board-eligible RNs, emergency medical technician-paramedics (EMT-Ps), radiologic technologists, and other national and state certified allied health professionals employed in interventional cardiovascular lab systems. Marsha Holton BS RN CCRN RCIS FSICP, Cardiovascular Orientation Programs, and Darren Powell RCIS FSICP, Program Director of the Invasive Cardiovascular Technology Program in Spokane, Washington, presented the program. The agenda for the sixteen-hour accredited event included:

Cardiac Anatomy and Physiology
Cardiac Pathophysiology
Basic Principles of Diagnostic Cardiac Catheterization Procedures
Basic Principles of Interventional Cardiac Catheterization Procedures
Cath Lab Pharmacology Review- Part 1
Cath Lab Pharmacology Review- Part 2
Basic Principles of Radiation
Care Principles of the Cardiac Cath Lab Patient
Waveforms and Pressures Review
Valvular Disease Review
Cardiac Output Determinations “ Fick
Cardiac Output Determinations “ Thermodilution
Hemodynamic Calculations Review
General Session for Questions

The program was approved for 16 Category A credits by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) and 16 Category A credits by the American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT).

The course was coordinated by Allison Bordeaux, MEd, RD, LDN, Associate Director of Program Services at Wake Area Health Education Center (AHEC). Other members of the Planning Committee included: Gwen Anderson RT(R) RCIS, Kimberly Bradshaw RT(R)(CT), Sheila DeBastiani RT(R), Shannon Gettings RCIS, Kimberly Wooten RN RCIS and Shannon Gettings RCIS.

The WakeMed AHEC and Heart Center Planning Committee express their gratitude for the following corporate sponsors: Boston Scientific (Tony Hartman); Cordis Corporation (Ryan Lipscomb); Datascope Corporation (Scott Imler and Cindy Hinton); GE Healthcare (Dennis Carrick); Philips Medical Systems (Beth Ann Griffith-Subik); Possis Medical (Michael Beers and Fred Smith); Sanofi-Aventis (BJ Lee and Anne Shaw-Kirkland).

For more information on Wake AHEC or to view upcoming continuing education programs, visit their website at www.wakeahec.org.