Cardiac Cath: Stent name

[maisyLPN]

Today I observed my patient undergoing a heart cathetherization. The patient was a 1 1/2 pack a day smoker and was told that if she had stents placed she wouldn't be able to smoke anymore because the new stents were "literally allergic to nicotine and would completely block blood flow" if she smoked. My teacher wants me to write a mini-report on this particular stent and I do not know the name of it. Can anyone help me out with this? Thanks!

[CCL RN, RN]

That's absurd!!!!!

Why on earth would we place something in a pt that would intentionally kill them, on the hopes that the fear of death will stop an addiction????

Whoever told the pt this is full of %#*^ and should be ashamed of themselves....

Let's think about this.....what if the pt walked into a smokey restaurant? Or a bar...? Or had a family member who refused to quit. Then they'd die??? Stent research is the absolute opposite of this. It's all about preventing the stent from closing.

Your mini poor should be titled, "ethics in health care" and analyze the health care team member who feels that lying to their patients is an acceptable method of forcing compliance. Wowzers....you could mention pt autonomy, physician paternalism, etc, etc

[maisyLPN]

Thanks!

[CCL RN, RN]

.

Your mini poor should be titled, "ethics in health care"

Ugh-that's supposed to say, "mini paper".

[laurenicoleRN]

I have never heard of such a stent and like the previous poster, I think its a bunch of bull!

[shadowflightnurse]

I work in a cath lab and there are various types of stents...bare metal vs drug eluting. There are no stents that are "allergic" to nicotine. It sounds as if someone was blowing smoke up you patients ### (no pun intended :) It is well known and well documented that patients who continue to smoke after stent implants are more likely to close off their stents, Same concept as COPD patients that continue to smoke are going to have more problems than those who stop smoking. The person who told your patient this probably had good intentions (patient should stop smoking, will be at risk for stent closure if they continue) but went about it totally the wong way.

[shadowflightnurse]

forgot to address the stent name issue, If you are still caring for the patient check their chart in the cath report the exact name and size of the stent will be listed. Names of stents are generally unimportant (kinda like Ford, Chevy, Toyota...all are good, but have slight differences), but finding out if the patient had a bare metal vs drug-eluting stent could possibly guide you in your paper. Comparing/contrasting bare metal and drug-eluting stents and which patients are likely to get each type of stent would provide a good bit of info for a paper.

If you find out the name of the stent and have trouble determining if it is bare metal or drug-eluting, re-post and I'm sure you'll get an answer.

[GoodNP]

You say the patient "was told." Who told her? The doctor? A nurse or cath lab tech? I agree w/ the other posters. Nicotine doesn't trigger any response from the stent. You probably know the catecholamine release, which has acute and chronic effects on the vascular wall, but this is not the same issue. The only thing I can think of that would cause acute stent closure is patient's w/ DE stents not taking their ASA & Plavix/Effient.

[maisyLPN]

Thanks you guys. I had that patient for one day so I never got to check into what the name of the stent was. The nurses prepping her for the procedure told her that info. After researching, I didn't find anything about that type of stent and came to the conclusion that it sounded pretty ridiculous. Luckily, my teacher agreed.