Univ of Mich ECMO training

Specialties PICU

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Has anyone been? I'm talking about the ECMO specialist training course. My unit keeps making noises about training RNs to run the pump bc we don't have enough perfusionists, so I asked if I could do the course. My boss now, of course, wants to know a) how much it costs and b) whether it would be worth it. So has anyone been to it? How long was it? Cost? Did you really feel prepared to run a pump afterwards? I emailed the sign-up person to ask all of this, of course, but I'd love to have the perspective of someone who has done it or knows someone who has.

Specializes in ECMO.
I think we may have been in the same hospital orientation group, actually, if you be who I think you be...

Anyway, I heard back from the lady at U of M. The program is 4 days (which seems incredibly short to me...) and costs ... ready? ... $2000. Holey moley. I don't think I'm going to be able to get the hospital to pay for that. Anyone know how to get funding for something like this??? :lol2:

hey there,

i sent you a PM earlier, actually yesterday, and hadnt seen this post. it seems you and I received a response at around the same time (11-15-07 around 815am from the admin assistant).

i felt the same way about the course. it seems WAY TOO short. for the price tag i would want something around 8-16wks of distance education and then perhaps a week long "in-house" final competency check off and exam.

Philly doesnt really attract me, but CHOP is world renowned... CHOP recruits nursing and respiratory students here at my school and actually pays us to go visit. i hear that their PICU is a little different from the norm. look up an article titled "Care Teams of Respiratory Therapists and Nurses in a PICU Setting by Schultz and Napoli", you may find it interesting.

to other ECMO Specialists, what is the average length of in-house didactic training that you received? (not including hours w/ a preceptor)

also, anybody here work at or have experience with the ECMO programs at Childrens at Dallas or Egleston/CHOA in Atlanta?

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Specializes in PCICU.

I know this is a bit off topic, but since we are mentioning CHOP...

All i have to say is that its too bad they pay their nurses peanuts. i was quite surprised with how little they pay their nurses, considering how specialized these hospitals are, and how well trained their nurses need to be. Boston Children's is the same way. And its definitely not the "difference in cost of living"...

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Specializes in Nursery, L&D, PICU, SICU.

Egleston trains RN's and RT's in house. Once you have proven yourself you can apply. If accepted there are classes and you have several shifts where you sit the pump with a preceptor. Each of the ICU's (PICU, NICU, CICU) have specialists on staff. The schedules are made as regular working schedules with people designated as 1st, 2nd, or 3rd ECMO. If there are no pumps running you work your regular shift. If there are more that 3 running they will call in extra specialists as needed. ECMO cases are 2:1, the pt has a nurse and the pump has a specialist but I have heard that in NICU stable runs will have a nurse with another pt.

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I started doing ECMO in 1991. I had 5 years of adult ICU experience and 1 year of NICU experience. I moved to the combined PICU/CICU in 1993 and continued to do ECMO until 2001 when I took a management position. I started to do ECMO again almost two years ago when I left management. It is a huge responsibility. You must make sure you feel adequately educated and trained. Your patient can die in seconds if something goes wrong...and if you do it long enough, something will. You have to be ready to act autonomously and in an instant, because in most centers, there is not a perfusionist at the bedside. That being said, ECMO allows you to use your nursing skills to the fullest. It can be very rewarding and very sad. You become very close to the parent's of the kids. Make sure you are sure you want to do this. I suggest you spend a shift with an ECMO patient and really question the ECMO specialist about the responsibilities, training and ongoing education in your institution.

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Specializes in PICU/NICU.

4 days is simply not enough time. I'm sure their own employees receive more time. The Children's Hospital where I did my ECMO circuit training gave us 5 days "classroom" time with circuit to play with so that we could talk about troubleshooting, ect. Mind you, we were all bedside ECMO nurses already. Then we got 6 shifts on the pump with a preceptor(RT or RN) Then we had to practice priming- most nervewracking part- and we were required to do 3 primes independently with a preceptor before we could do it on our own.

My advise, $2000 is alot of money and I think you might come out of the class feeling knowledgable but not quite confident in priming. IMHO you need to feel very confident!

Good luck to you...... keep us posted on what you decide.

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Does anyone know of other ECMO Specialist Courses other than Univ of Mich.? Preferably closer to NYC??

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

You might want to check with hospitals in your area that have ECMO services and see how and where they educate their staff. The ELSO website has a list of all the facilities they've accredited. http://www.elso.med.umich.edu/member.asp#New%20York http://www.elso.med.umich.edu/member.asp#New%20Jersey I'd contact the coordinator and ask. You might find a course nearby.

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Specializes in SICU.

Where I work, ECMO specialists (specially trained and certified RNs/RTs) run the pump, and then there is the bedside nurse who is the nurse for the patient. It is never the same person doing both. I agree having one nurse do two jobs would be unsafe. But with proper training an RN ECMO specialist is just as safe as a perfusionist. Honestly, perfusionsists spend most of their time on CBP for open heart surgery, so the RN/RT ECMO specialists are more the experts on running ECMO pumps. Perfusionists are still very useful in emergencies, but you really don't need one at the bedside 24/7.

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Specializes in SICU.
Egleston trains RN's and RT's in house. Once you have proven yourself you can apply. If accepted there are classes and you have several shifts where you sit the pump with a preceptor. Each of the ICU's (PICU, NICU, CICU) have specialists on staff. The schedules are made as regular working schedules with people designated as 1st, 2nd, or 3rd ECMO. If there are no pumps running you work your regular shift. If there are more that 3 running they will call in extra specialists as needed. ECMO cases are 2:1, the pt has a nurse and the pump has a specialist but I have heard that in NICU stable runs will have a nurse with another pt.

This is exactly how is it where I work. Reading this I'd think we work in the same hospital, but that's not what we call our ICUs so I know we don't.

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