And so it goes for another 5-10 minutes, 50 or more mLs of contrast and only one view, which may show a marginally more narrowed lumen diameter, if the operator or cath lab crew squint their eyes. I’ve done this and at times, I struggle. Admittedly, my bias, held for many years, is that I do not think the angiogram does its job as well as we need it to. Why, then, do we have such difficulty judging the severity of some lesions from the angiogram? How precise is the assessment if we need so many views to decide? Is the worst single view representative of the clinical importance of the narrowi

Room three is also the peripherals room. It has digital subtraction technology and is equipped for electrophysiology procedures (EP)/ablations. Room four is the main electrophysiology lab, which uses the EP-WorkMate® Electrophysiology Workstation (EP MedSystems, Inc., Mt. Arlington, NJ) for standard studies as well as the Carto system (Biosense Webster, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, Diamond Bar, CA) for three-dimensional mapping. All of our rooms can be configured for device implantation. The Day Patient Area, which handles most of our pre- and post-angiography volume, has eleven rooms.

This article can be found at:
http://invasivecardiology.com/jic/displayArticle.cfm?articleID=article56...

Successful infection control begins with the first meeting regarding the planning of a healthcare project.

It’s that important.

The following seven keys to infection control supplement recommendations in the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospitals and Health Care Facilities and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).

Adhering to these requirements and recommendations leads to the development of well-designed facilities.

The Seven Keys

Obvious differences exist between infection

Introduction

Prior to becoming an RCIS and beginning work in the cath lab, I worked for Hewlett Packard (HP) and Agilent Technologies for 32 years. During this time, I was a certified journeyman machinist, quality inspector, dimensional metrologist, a manufacturing, product, and process technician/engineer, part of marketing teams, and an ergonomic specialist. As part of marketing teams, I was responsible for the division’s worldwide product warranty collection and web reporting process for our division. My career went full circle: from making the parts, as a machinist, to sitting

What is the clinical value of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)?

The primary benefit of IVUS is that it offers a tomographic, 360-degree view of the vessel wall from the inside, allowing a more complete and accurate assessment of a vessel than possible with angiography. Interventionalists who routinely rely on angiograms alone are probably going to miss a significant number of diagnoses, particularly in regards to hazy lesions, ostial lesions and left main disease. Once one becomes accustomed to IVUS, it is amazing how many of these cases become quite clear to the operator. Furthermore

Rather than simply upgrade the vascular x-ray technology, we decided to make a fresh start by redesigning the entire cardiac catheterization and interventional radiology lab.

While we planned the foundation of our updated lab to be a dual-plane vascular x-ray system, the project also would include a comprehensive lab redesign. Our goal was to improve efficiency through the creation of a modern dual lab for diagnosing and treating a wide range of heart and vascular conditions. Our hope was that the new system and lab redesign would enable us to draw the attention of referring physicians an

Can you help your fellow professionals with the following NEW question?

Groin Prep

I would like to know what other cath labs’ procedure is for prepping the groin area. Do you place a towel between the legs and prep, or do you prep the entire genital area without a towel down the center for patient privacy?

Anonymous by request
Email: cathlabdigest@aol.com

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RCIS Acceptance

I am currently a traveler and I am running into more job openings across the country that are only accepting RTs/ARRTs for tech po

Professional Standards and Scope of Practice for the Cardiovascular Invasive Specialist

Kenneth A. Gorski, RN, RCIS, FSICP
Assistant Manager, Sones Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories; The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio; Chairman, Professional Standards Committee, The Society of Invasive Cardiovascular Professionals

In 1959, coronary angiography became a reality at the Cleveland Clinic, pioneered by Dr. F. Mason Sones, and changing the way we looked at cardiovascular disease. Vae Lucile Van Derwyst, RN, began working for Dr. Sones at the Cleveland Clinic in 1952,