cathlabrn

I am not sure what your duties are but these departments do require sedation. We are required to have ACLS to give sedation. I have been a cath lab nurse for 8 years and I came from a strong cardiac background. In our cath lab, you need to be a st...

You always hope that grafts will last a long time. However, over time they could occlude. A patient could either need bypass surgery again if he is symptomatic. Many times if it is many years later, when you do the angio you may find the graft dow...

I'm not sure if you mean SL or a Nitro gtt. With a pressure in the 90s, and chest pain, I would try the Nitro, especially knowing he's got severe disease. It's really necessary to dialate those arteries, and the nitro can do just that. If the pain ...

Try this job for awhile. Set a time frame, if you don't change your mind in 6 months, then move on. For now accept the challenge and give those patients great care. A step down unit is a great place to learn. You will care for so many different t...

We have done quite a few radials but I have never heard of a TR band. How does it work? We just use a syvek with a radial pressure band. You just tighten manually around the wrist. We can usually close a diagnostic within 20 minutes. We used to d...

I definitely remember the Bad ole days, dutchgirl. When we first started angioplasty, you could count on v-fib showing up more than once in a case. Complications were part of everyday life. Stents are wonderful, but it took a while to get them per...

:redbeathe I have been a cath lab nurse for 8 years. It's been a great job. So much has changed for the better in this time.

They can be rolled onto their side with pillow support behind them. They are still able to keep their leg straight and also to get off of their back. Also, have them bend up the unaffected leg. This takes pressure off of their back. A rolled blan...

I have pulled alot of sheaths. I think the two finger method works best. Make sure you find that pulse and get on it. Hopefully, you are using some type of closure patch to help you out. The c clamp is great and saves your hands for charting after...

We are having alot of issues with blanket orders such as, "continue previous orders", "continue home meds", etc. Even after a procedure such as a normal angiogram, insertion of perma-cath, uneventful angioplasty they want us to rewrite the orders i...

Try checking his pulse when this happens. He may end up needing a pacemaker, or his meds changed. I would definitely call the cardiologist.

I started on a very busy IMCU right out of nursing school and got plenty of med/surg experience. It was a very hard place to work but I learned alot. I am glad that I started there.

I've been a cardiac cath nurse a long time and I think every case is different. Whatever it takes as long as the patient is responding to your efforts in some way. Sometimes multiple shocks and drugs can get you through until you can finish a much n...

We try to use angioseal whenever we can. It has been great. We used syvek for years, but then changed to Chito and really haven't experienced any problems. What problems have you been having? What is your ACT required before pulling? We have used...

I have worked as a cath lab rn for 6 years. We have only one rn cross trained and that was his choice. Our call teams consist of 1 rn and 2 techs. Our techs are awesome. With the exception of a couple, our techs are great in an emergency. If we ...

I am a nurse and I take coumadin. As long as I keep my diet basically the same, nothing seems to mess with my INR. I do drink cranberry at times but not by the gallons, and I do eat a fair amount of bananas. I check my INR every three weeks and it...

Barb, I hope that you are feeling better. We are used to our patients being sick and we take care of them. Sometimes nurses need to be taken care of too!! I hope that your doctor suggests a stress test. Your family history precedes you.:wink2: ...

In the cath lab we are not allowed to give any form of sedation unless the doctor is physically in the room. Even 1mg of Versed or 25mcg of Fent is considered conscious sedation. I think for those very anxious patients, we should be able to relax t...

We have been using angioseals frequently, even post plasty. The cath lab staff loves them. The floor nurses do complain that they are oozing but without hematoma. When we don't use the angioseal, we use syvek or chito seal, and then apply a small o...

We have a problem with doctors showing up for cases late after they have agreed to a 20 minute notice. We will put the patient on the table and then they will not show up for 30-50 minutes. This is very frustrating, as our patients are already nervo...