Cath lab, RN/tech mix

HI all,
Does anyone work in a Cath lab where there is a large mix of techs and RNs?? This is about to happen at ours. Supposedly it is cheaper to hire radiology techs, respiratory techs than RNs and the state regs state that you only need RNs to circulate and work the holding areas. Of course many cath lab RNs are upset and may have to look for other jobs in house or out of house.

I work in the Chicago area. It is common for the cath labs in this area to run with a mix of RN's, techs and RT's. It is not uncommon to be the only RN in a case especially during a call in. I have found that this doesn't cause too much trouble so long as the staff your with is well trained, in fact I think that I have learned more from the veteran CVTs and Rts than many of the nurses I have worked with. That having been said when my pateints crashing on the table having another nurse there is ideal. Often the techs are great at the technical stuff like prepping for intervention but aren't great at the assessment and tx of a pt going down the tubes. I have heard rumors of some labs running without any RN's but most nurse practice acts specify that a RN has to be the one giving the conscious sedation and that keeps us in the lab. It all boils down to cost and because of that high number RN labs are becoming a thing of the past. There is another forum called Cathlab.com that frequently has posts about this but I should warn you that it can be a little hostile towards RN's (my opinion) but it's a good place for cath lab info. Good luck with the changes and try to hang in there.

HI all,
Does anyone work in a Cath lab where there is a large mix of techs and RNs?? This is about to happen at ours. Supposedly it is cheaper to hire radiology techs, respiratory techs than RNs and the state regs state that you only need RNs to circulate and work the holding areas. Of course many cath lab RNs are upset and may have to look for other jobs in house or out of house.