Lvad patient in cardiac rehab

[Chanda1234]

I work in cardiac rehab at a critical access hospital. We have a referral for a patient with an lvad. Would anyone have policies and or protocols we could see to build ours?

[klone, MSN, RN]

I do know you're not supposed to cut the LVAD wire. Even if he really really needs a new heart.

[Purple_roses]

I do know you're not supposed to cut the LVAD wire. Even if he really really needs a new heart.

But what if the nurse or doctor is in love with him?

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

But what if the nurse or doctor is in love with him?

Not if it was a nurse, but if it's a doctor, the dude would get a new heart.

[TrashPanda]

klone said:

I do know you're not supposed to cut the LVAD wire. Even if he really really needs a new heart.

Wait...cutting the LVAD wire is a bad thing? Oops! My bad 

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Many LVAD pts are now in the community.

[MunoRN, RN]

There should be a VAD coordinator associated with these patients, if your cardiac rehab is affiliated with the institution that is placing or managing these VADs then you should be able to ask them for guidance. Otherwise, ask the patient's who their VAD coordinator is, they should have a card that is usually found in their battery bag. The coordinator will usually have pre-prepared guidance for outpatient services that may see VAD patients.

[Curious1alwys, BSN, RN]

So we are getting many more LVAD's as well. When I have a patient come in I like to learn as much as I can about their specific device, of course. I always write the hotline number on their chart in bold so we know where to go for resource.

But I wandered off and found these really cool YouTube videos about LVAD's from a medical student or doctor....didn't spend much time looking at who he was because the videos are very simple and informative. Break down LVAD's and even more important, emergency management, nicely. Check them out! Part 1 and 2.

As far as policies/protocols, I am just in the beginnings of figuring this out. We are CR offsite, outpatient, and just went to basic BLS (I know, strange). We call 911 in an emergency. And chest compressions. I don't think we have one specific thing written down for an LVAD patient as far as policy. I know no compressions and thanks to those videos, much more about troubleshooting the LVAD. So I try and educate myself. AACVPR also has a video you can pay for regarding LVAD's, it's not too expensive, I might look into that too. :) Let me know if you end up with CLEAR policies and procedures, I'd be interested to know what they are.