Aortic_Surgery_RNFA

I'd be happy to answer any questions as well.

@airmedicRN - having spent time observing the trauma teams (including the flight nurse team), I must say that the Red Duke Trauma Institute is second-to-none in the world. The most integrated and practical facility with acute care capabilities (I.e. # of helipads, Direct Helipad to OR, etc.) that I have not seen at other top tier trauma centers.

@dana16 - ACNP / RNFA in Open Aortic Surgery - 80% of my time is spent first assisting in the Operating Room - I also take call as part of our emergent aortic response team (ruptures, dissections, etc.). Please feel free to msg me

Yes - @Rose_Queen is right - actual DOTs (Death on Table) are pretty rare. Trauma (GSWs, MVAs and other things like rAAAs) account for about 60% of our DOTs each year. 30% is high-risk elective open CVOR cases - re-do’s (had a pt pass during 4th re-do CABG x 4), huge aortic cases requiring DHCA, and other open cases involving the aorta. The remaining 10% are misc., with Liver Transplants, Whipples w/ portal vein involvement, 2F / 3F open esophagectomies and large open abdominal cases (debulking for metastatic cancer) making up the vast majority.

As @Rose_Queen mentioned, a lot of it is about the institution that you choose to practice at AND the sponsorship from a surgeon to get you the experience of really learning how to operate, which is what you do as an RNFA. I pondered the same fork in the road and chose RN (then APRN (ACNP RNFA)) and think it’s one of the best decisions I made. I started in smaller institution and began scrubbing on all services. When we started our full Cardiothoracic program, I was recruited to scrub on that team, which was a hand-picked unit when it started. From there, I was blessed to have a Cardiac Surgeon who took a real interest in my passion for perioperative nursing and being ‘in the field’. She really has developed my skills and provided the ongoing sponsorship to now be our Lead RNFA on our CVOR service and also a member of our Open Aortic / High-Risk team. There was certainly luck involved, but I’m a believer that you create your own luck! @Abby Suh - Please message me with any questions.

Anyone have a lot of experience performing intraoperative chest compressions? I’m pretty short (5’4”) and even with stools, it’s hard to get the leverage to compress as hard as I would like. We’re using ortho hoods (PAPRs) for all cases right now, which further complicates effective pumping.