February 2003

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Volume 11 Issue 2

Editorial Staff

Clinical Editor
Morton Kern, MD
Executive Editor
Laurie Gustafson
Managing Editor
Rebecca Kapur
Production Manager
Elizabeth Vasil

Editorial Correspondence

Rebecca Kapur, Managing Editor, Cath Lab Digest
HMP Communications, 70 E. Swedesford Rd
Suite 100, Malvern PA 19355
Telephone: (440) 717-0418

Fax: (866) 896-8762
Email: rkapur@hmpglobal.com
Clinical and Industry News
Early Results Suggest PolarCath System May Be Better Than Conventional Angioplasty Balloon The PolarCath System which uses a new form of angioplasty to open blocked arteries by cooling and dilating them appears to be more successful and result in…
What Do You Think?
December 2002 Question: On-Call Teams Do any of you have access to statistics related to cath lab teams and acute interventions? Specifically, I am looking for a survey showing the number of nurses/techs composing the team. The reason is this; curr…
The Harry T. Harper, Jr. MD School of Heart and Vascular Technology, A Program of University Hospital's Georgia Heart Institute
My experience as an educator first began in college, when I would host Anatomy & Physiology study sessions at my house to help other students in my class. I graduated from the Armstrong Atlantic State University School of Radiology (formally, The…
Clinical Events Calendar
March 3-7 18th Annual Interventional Cardiology 2003 Location: Snowmass Village, Colorado Website: www.promedica-intl.com March 7 - 8 Review Course for the Invasive Registry Exam Location: Portsmouth, Virginia Contact: Amy Ross, RCIS, FSICP Tel:…
New Developments in Congestive Heart Failure: The Use of Ultrafiltration
With the System 100, physicians specify the amount of fluid to be extracted from a patient’s blood at a controlled rate. Vascular access is established via a patient’s peripheral veins, typically in the arms. The system uses a technique called ultra…
Letters to the Editor
Laissez Faire Facilities and JCAHO Earlier this year I sent out an e-mail requesting opinions from other hospitals regarding cath lab attire: hats, masks & shoe covers. The question was printed in your December 2002 issue (Email Discussion Gro…
Email Discussion Group
We are revising our processes and relocating our pre and post cath patient care area. I’d like some ideas on staffing, training, hours, whether or not both in and outpatients pass through there, and especially whether there are patients from any othe…
Isometric of the Mayo Clinic Cardiac Cath Lab.
Creating Efficiencies in Cath Lab Design
In the past, patients commonly began their diagnosis in the emergency unit; today they arrive at the cath lab through varied treatment doors. They may have arrived on an emergent basis from the ER, a cardiologist’s office or heart scan clinic, or as…
Cath Lab staff members include (front row L-R): Keith Muska RN, Dawn Olmstead RCIS, Molly Hewitt RN, Diane Filpi RN, Alfreda Lapinski PCT II. (Back row L-R) Raul Tejeda Inventory Specialist, Kevin Morris CVT, James O'Brien RN, Dennis Patrick RT(R).
Loyola University Medical Center
What is the size of your cath lab facility and number of staff members? Loyola University Medical Center (LUMC) currently has three dedicated cath labs (2 single plane, 1 bi-plane). There are 22.5 FTEs budgeted for the department. Of these: 12 a…
Patti Ludwig-Beymer
Perceived Functional Status Before and Six Months After Coronary Interventions
INTRODUCTION As a disease category, heart disease is the number one cause of death, accounting for 725,192 deaths in the United States in 1999. During that year, ischemic heart disease accounted for 73% of the deaths from all forms of heart disease…