Cath Lab Digest - January 2008 - (Page 36)

36 YOUR PATH TO SUCCESS: CAREER ADVICE JANUARY 2008 DRUG-ELUTING STENT SOLUTIONS The Value of Educating Staff Carol Dombrowicki, Recruitment Consultant, Corazon, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania opinions to what is going on in the industry. Corazon, for an example, has a biannual newsletter that is specific to the cardiovascular specialty. The newsletter informs the reader on what is hot in the industry as well as success stories of our clients. To get your free subscription to the Corazon newsletter, visit www.corazoninc.com. Your own hospital newsletter can also be a source of information and education. This will keep you in the loop on what is happening in other areas of the hospital, from new procedures to new members of the medical staff. Is there something in your department that can be shared with the rest of the organization? What journals are your physicians reading? These journals will be very beneficial to you and your staff, giving you the information that the physicians are keeping up with, and the latest and greatest device or procedure in the cath lab. Remember, physicians are part of the team too. Sharing information from physician resources will give your staff a better picture of what is new and hot in the cath lab. It can help foster open communication between physicians and staff, which will improve and grow the department. The Massachusetts Stent Study This monthly column in Cath Lab Digest reviews important points of distinction in drug-eluting stents (DES), from characteristics to techniques, to provide valuable and relevant information about this revolutionary technology. By Laura Mauri, MD, MSc Laura Mauri, MD, MSc is an interventional cardiologist at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Chief Scientific Officer of the Harvard Clinical Research Institute (HCRI) in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Mauri also teaches clinical trial methodology at Harvard Medical School. Her particular expertise is in the use of statistical methods in clinical research, specifically in interventional cardiology. She is a graduate of Harvard College, Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. What was the motivation behind the Massachusetts Stent study? What were your goals in conducting this analysis? We had seen reports from observational studies in Europe, showing higher rates of adverse events associated with drug-eluting stents (DES) than with bare-metal stents (BMS) that were different from the results from randomized trials. Of course, the randomized trials showed lower restenosis rates with DES, but the size of these trials was not large enough to know for sure whether there was an increase in the rates of either myocardial infarction (MI) or death. We thought it was important to find out whether the same problems reported in some European studies were seen elsewhere. In Massachusetts, the Department of Public Health requires mandatory reporting of all percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures to monitor the quality of healthcare. By looking at these data, we had the opportunity to answer some important questions for interventional cardiologists. How does your analysis fit into context of other “real-world” data that have been recently published (Swedish Coronary Angiography and Angioplasty Registry [SCAAR], Western Denmark Heart Registry, Strategic Transcatheter Evaluation of New Therapies [STENT] Registry, etc.)? The Massachusetts Stent database is unique for several reasons. In the United States, there is a high rate of PCI, and there has been a very rapid adoption of DES. We found that at the beginning of the study period, when DES were first introduced, the majority of stents used were bare metal. At the end of the study, the vast majority of stents — over 90 percent — were DES. This gave us the opportunity to compare a large number of similar types of patients who received either BMS or DES. This is different from studies in other countries where the use of stents and particularly DES might be more restricted. The other advantage was that in Massachusetts, follow up of all patients undergoing an angioplasty with stents is mandatory, so we had a comprehensive dataset, which is very important when you want to look at rare adverse events. Finally, we included stents placed for any indication, so that we would really represent the spectrum of what is actually being done in real practice. Q A H appy New Year! Hopefully your new year’s resolution includes not only improving yourself, but facilitating improvement in the skills of your staff and department as well. There are so many ways you can help the educational growth of your team and staff. Think beyond the traditional education settings to keep your staff on top of their game. We will look at several things that will help you and your staff to stay “in the know” to care for your patients today and tomorrow. Q Journals, Magazines, and Newsletters Since you are reading this article, most likely you subscribe to Cath Lab Digest. You are keeping up on what’s going on in the cath lab, but is your staff? Are you sharing magazines and important articles with your team? Journals are a wealth of information at a minimum cost. Don’t limit yourself to journals that specialize in one area of expertise. Think outside of the box and look at other journals, magazines, and newsletters that have insight and Society Memberships Another way to stay on top of what is going on in the area of cardiovascular care is to encourage your staff to become members and be involved in relevant healthcare organizations. Many national organizations have local chapters and have monthly or quarterly meetings, where members can meet and network with their peers keep up with A continued on next page http://www.corazoninc.com http://www.corazoninc.com http://www.corazoninc.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cath Lab Digest - January 2008

Cath Lab Digest - January 2008 Central Baptist Hospital Contrast Media Use in High-Risk Patients An Ergonomic Survey of Cath Lab Repetitive Stress Injuries Contents Clinical Editor’s Corner Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy, a.k.a., Transient Left Ventricular Apical Ballooning Syndrome: An Acute Coronary Syndrome Imposter Searching for the Key to D2B STEMI Intervention News STEMI Interventions: Commentary The Massachusetts Stent Study The Value of Educating Staff Ask the Clinical Instructor: A Q&A Column for Those New to the Cath Lab SICP* Chapter Updates The Society of Invasive Cardiovascular Professionals Holds an RCIS Review Course at New Cardiovascular Horizons 18:20 To Denver — One Student’s First Clinical Experience CEU Education Center Meetings Calendar What Do You Think? Clinical & Industry News Classifieds The Ten-Minute Interview with…Heather Vardon, RN Advertisers Index

Cath Lab Digest - January 2008

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