sharshar

i have been living (26yrs) and working (16yrs) in french-speaking switzerland. you do real well in french! your tête is just fine! i didn't have any problem getting my licence to work here, as i have always kept a current licence in the states. i had worked in psycho-geriatrics for 13 years while my 3 children got old enough to go to school. then i took a refresher course, and 2 yrs later started in the cath lab . voilà! my working language is french, but i use english and german regularly. as switzerland has 4 national languages, and we have an unusual number of foreigners with international organizations and european and international headquarters, etc..i can easily use 3 languages several times a day!! the interdisciplinary team i work with is multinational, and i love it! it is difficult for me to compare working here to working in the states..as i worked in the operating room last time i worked there and that was in 1979. my guess is that it is more expensive there, and is complicated by the medical-legal issues that we are not yet too exposed to.. but you are lightyears more organized in the cath lab. my dad was stented twice in the last 4 years, and i saw the neat way things are done there...and could only wish...... so there is an abridged version of my experience working here. sharshar

thanks dianah!!!!! whew! i have read and reread your response. what a great anthology of cath lab nursing. i have to say some of your abbreviations have perplexed me a little. you can imagine, having lived outside of the country for 26 years, and working exclusively in french, my abbreviations are different....and usually opposite of yours (english). for example a cva in english is an avc in french...and so on. even after all these years, i am stumped while reading pt. histories. but you have outdone yourself with your answer to my question. as i was initiated to the cath lab in 1974, i can identify with much of what you described as you tasks early on. i did my own cleaning, setting up trays and sterilizing instruments, etc. i have never used conscious sedation. even now, in europe, many labs don't. but thanks for all the useful info. if i have more questions, i'll ask. if you have any more thots, just add them. i check the site every 2-3 days...sharshar

thanks for the quick responses. i sense, for example, that the biggest changes in cath lab nursing are an evolution from functional (sterilizing and setting up trays of instruments), and assisting the radiologist, to nursing assessment, interpretation of ekg, and knowledge of sophisticated equipment and materials. i remember in angiography (peripheral not cardio) we didn't even have an ekg. this was in a large and progressive los angeles inner city hospital. we had a maximum of 3 catheters that we used for about everything! we were limited to diagnostic angiographic procedures. when did it all change? was there a turning point? because i have been away from the cath lab so long, it seems to me that the change was explosive. even now, we have a hard time to keep up with the pace of change in a large university hospital! if you can fill me in on what you remember of the years i have missed, i would be grateful. sharshar

hello. i am looking for rad-angio nurses who have worked in the cath lab during the '70s, '80s, and '90s. i worked in the cath lab in the mid '70s. after 25 years of nursing in other fields, i am again in the cath lab. imagine my shock at first! i have a project going, and i need firsthand information about your duties and daily tasks and how they have changed over the years. can anybody help me? sharshar