cath lab credentials

[sircathalot]

What credentials does your cath lab encourage? Our Hospital is pushing for all cath lab RN's to be take the CVN exam offered by ANCC. I have also heard of another CVN certification through the ACCN. What is the difference and why are there 2 CVN certifications? Are there any professional journals for cath lab nurses? Our hospital is reluctant to reimburse for RCIS certification since it is not considered a "nurse only" certification. Any thoughts or comments? Thanks

[tvccrn, ASN, RN]

I don't know about other places, but the lab I used to work in and am going back to uses CV techs and the nurses don't do the recording of hemodynamics, so they don't require certification. The lab at New England Medical Center the nurses are responsible for the hemodynamics, but they don't require certification either.

Also, there is a Cath Lab Digest out there. I get it every month free of charge. You can sign up for delivery at home or work at the web site at cathlabdigest.com.

[sircathalot]

Thanks tvccrn. Its not a requirement to be certified in CVN in our lab; but it is being strongly encouraged. It is only required to be BLS and ACLS certified at this point. Just wondered what other labs were doing.

[dianah, ASN]

Not a requirement in our lab either; just BLS and ACLS, as in yours, sircathalot. We don't do interventional but when the tech is off/sick, we do the hemodynamic recordings as well as the set-up and pt monitoring (two nurses, so the monitoring is JCAHO-ready!). Sometimes we scrub too, when the fellows are unavailable (mandatory clinic, etc).

[CCL"Babe", BSN, RN]

Our lab you need just ACLS. Our management does encourage RCIS and does compensate for it. Our staff is comprised of RNs who can scrub, circulate or monitor. The CVTs are a mixed lot. Some went to school, some have been here since the beginning and have no formal training, some were/are EMTs and paramedics. Our CVTs can scrub and monitor. They are not allowed to circulate. They used to be able to, but that changed a few years ago. We do have some fellows that float through from our sister hospital that does have a fellowship program. Since we are filmless now we have no rad techs at present.

Our former management did not care for/or encourage RCIS. Since our current manager arrived, we are encouraged to continue our education any way we can. I think at present, there is more of a push to get the techs to get certified first.

[Doug Craig]

Just learning here. What does RCIS stand for? I have looked everywhere and can not find the definition.

[RN-CCRN-RCIS-RTRCV]

RCIS stands for Registered Cardiovascular Invasive Specialist.

[Doug Craig]

Thanks. I appreciate the information.