Wedge pressure

Hey there! I am a Cath lab nurse that went in as a new grad. I've been in my lab for a little over a year now. I am absolutely in love with the CCL! I had no previous critical care experience and you don't need any either! Here is my best advice: 1. buy a hard copy of Dr. Morton Kern's Cath lab essentials and start reading. Honestly I read it cover to cover a 4 times before I started. 2. Get intimately familiar with cardiogenic shock resuscitation and assessment. There are great up to date algorithms you can look at from Abiomed they make Impella and they are one of the leaders in this research. 3. Know these drugs like the back of your hand: Fentanyl/Versed, Heparin, Angiomax, Neosynephrine, levo, dopamine, dobutamine, nitro, adenosine, amio, epi, atropine, all CODE drugs, plavix, ASA, Bralinta, Ibutalide, integralin, lido, alll IV anti HTN RX. That would a be a great start. 4. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Don't rush, don't make mistakes. Listen, ask questions, but read the room and don't be loud during cases. 5. Be very comfortable with manual airway management, RSI, Bipap/CPAP. Start going over your hemodynamics and what it means when they are out of normal limits. RA>RV>PA>WP>LV>Ao, LVEDP, 6. Know your ACLS REALLY well but understand that in the cath lab we run codes differently than any other unit. sometimes we do stuff that is not in the ACLS class so be prepared for curve ball orders from the doc when thigs go south. 7. Get familiar with normal coronary anatomy and the different view the C-arm gives you. The more you know what you are looking at the bettter you can anticipate what will come next. 8. The cath lab is a flow state type of arena. There is a flow to the cases and a timing in all of your actions all based on how things develop. When you understand the flow, things become much easier and its a very smooth process. That's what I have for now, let me know what you think and if you have questions I'm happy to answer them! Best of luck keep us updated!