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Questions!

Staffing Formula

Do you have a matrix or formula for cath labs that can calculate the appropriate number and blend of staff for a new cath lab built at our hospital?

Email: nancy.ashmore@parisrmc.com
Cc: cathlabdigest@aol.com

STEMI Callback Times

Does anyone have information about what the “national standard” is for call back time allowed for a cardiac cath lab? 30 minutes?

Many thanks,
Gayle DeBolt
Email: richig@msn.com
Cc: cathlabdigest@aol.com

Answered:

Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

A question has come up at our hospital regarding UPS systems for the x-ray equipment from our patient safety committee. Is there anyone that has a standard of all angio or cath lab rooms being on a UPS in the event of a power outage to have fluoro immediately available instead of waiting for the system to reboot?

Thank you,
Anonymous by request
Email: cathlabdigest@aol.com

After a long battle, we now have all critical equipment in our cath/IR lab and CT protected from power interruption by massive Toshiba USBs. These units give us 15 minutes of operating time off-grid. We are a single room, dual modality lab cath/IR lab located on St. Thomas Virgin Islands (VI). Our power supply was interrupted at least weekly and often more frequently by our aging “island-style” power grid. The recurrent nightmare (which fortunately never happened) involved a power failure and suffering through an 8-minute reboot cycle just as we deployed a coronary/carotid stent or an involved IR embolization. I am extremely grateful to our hospital administration for recognizing this dangerous patient care issue and addressing it.

Gordon Hackstaff RT(R)(CV)
Lead Technologist
Cardiac Cath/Angiography
Schneider Regional Medical Center
St. Thomas, V.I.
Email: GHackstaff@srmedicalcenter.org