Cath Lab Digest - April 2008 - (Page 4)

4 CLINICAL EDITOR’S CORNER APRIL 2008 EDITORIAL New Ideas from Cardiac Cath Lab Staff MORTON KERN, MD Clinical Editor Clinical Professor of Medicine Associate Chief Cardiology University of California Irvine Orange, California LAURIE GUSTAFSON Executive Editor O ne of the most stimulating and fun activities in the cath lab is the discovery of a new way to do things. Despite more than 20 years working in the cath lab, I continue to learn something new almost every month. The source of this information comes from our cath lab staff, nurses on the floor and the cardiology fellows. This process of discovery must be nurtured and borne by those with curiosity and an inquisitive nature. After leaving the St. Louis University cath lab, the opportunity to work in different cath labs in southern California in the last several years has emphasized to me more than ever that new eyes looking in new places often bring new ideas to old problems. Over the years, my close association with cath lab nurses and technologists has produced a number of innovative products for and approaches to many of our common daily problems in performing cardiac catheterization. REBECCA KAPUR Managing Editor ELIZABETH MCTAMNEY Layout/Production Manager PAUL MACKLER President/CEO PETER NORRIS Executive Vice President/General Manager JEFFREY MARTIN Vice President/Group Publisher Cardiology Division ALEX SLONIM Vice President/Associate Publisher of Cardiology CARSON MCGARRITY Senior Account Director Colored Syringes and Splash Containers MORTON KERN, MD Clinical Editor Clinical Professor of Medicine Associate Chief Cardiology University of California Irvine Orange, California mortonkern005@hotmail.com I still have an outstanding bet to pay to anyone who can figure out how to make the intravenous lines come to the patient from the head of the table without becoming entangled in the C-arm. For example, in 1990, my head nurse at the St. Louis University cardiac cath lab, Robert Roth, and I discussed problems with labeling syringes for medications at the back table. We came up with the idea of adding colored tags to the syringes well before the Joint Commission asked us to label all products on the cath table. We spoke with our industry colleagues at Merit Medical and sure enough, colored pistons for syringes were produced, permitting us to use color-coded syringes and avoid medication errors. In 1991, Rob heard me complaining about bloody splash from forceful emptying of the waste syringes into an open bowl. Rob Roth created a small collection bowl filled with gauze and covered with a plastic lid with a hole in the middle to receive the bloody waste from the syringe and contain the backsplash. This idea was also picked up by industry and the Backstop waste bowl collector was then introduced and remains in use today. NICK OTRANTO Account Manager BRENDA O’CONNOR Cardiology Sales Associate BILL NORTON Vice President, Meeting and Trade Shows LUCINDA BESKA Classified Advertising Sales Manager FRED KLUMPP Manager of Information Systems KATHY MURPHY Production Director STEFANIE TULEYA RENEE OLSZEWSKI Special Projects Editors PATRICIA LEVY Director of NACCME Streamlining the Swan After my move to California in 2005, I was working in Saddleback Hospital in Laguna Hills. CJ Wolfe, one of the cath lab nurses, had a great idea to use a needleless valve connector in place of a stopcock on the Swan Ganz catheter and eliminate the fishhook-like activity of moving this catheter across a field, catching the tubing and drapes with the stopcock. Again, this example illustrates that a brilliant idea from the cath lab staff should not go unappreciated (Kern MJ. Technical Pearl: Streamlining the Swan. Catheter Cardiovasc Interv 2007;70:160). CIRCULATION: Contact the Subscription Dept Tel: (800) 237-7285, ext 5 Or (610) 560-0500 ext. 5 E-mail: subscriptions@ hmpcommunications.com SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION CATH LAB DIGEST STATES. ALL AS IS FREE TO QUALIFIED CATH LAB PERSONNEL WORKING IN THE UNITED OTHER SUBSCRIPTION RATES ARE FOLLOWS: continued on next page Editorial Correspondence: Rebecca Kapur, Managing Editor, HMP COMMUNICATIONS Cardiology Editorial Offices, 7427 Winding Way, Brecksville, OH 44141 Tel. (800) 459-8657 Fax: (216) 393-0445 Email address: RKapur@hmpcommunications.com Circulation: Bonnie Shannon, BShannon@hmpcommunications.com, tel. (800) 237-7285, ext. 246 Advertising: Jeffrey Martin, Vice President/Group Publisher, tel. (800) 237-7285, ext. 238, Email: jmartin@hmpcommunications.com Alex Slonim, Vice President/Associate Publisher, tel. (800) 237-7285, ext. 245, Email aslonim@hmpcommunications.com Carson McBrayer, Senior Account Director, tel. 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Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cath Lab Digest - April 2008

Cath Lab Digest - April 2008 Kaiser San Rafael Medical Center Orbital Atherectomy: A New Treatment for Complex Peripheral Arterial Disease Ask the Clinical Instructor: A Q&A Column for Those New to the Cath Lab Contents Clinical Editor’s Corner CEU Education Center The Missing Link in STEMI Interventions — Thrombus Aspiration during Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Predicting Stent Thrombosis Using A Clinical Risk Score Use of a New Guidewire: The Tigerwire Should I Stay or Should I Go? Weighing Options for New Opportunities Navigating Tortuous Coronary Sinus Anatomy Using a Bipolar Lead The National Society of Radiology Practitioner Assistants (NSRPA) Holds 9th Annual Educational Conference For Medical Imaging Physician Extenders and Mid-Level Healthcare Providers Cath Lab & Beyond: A Meeting Update The Ten-Minute Interview with… Dale Hansen RT, CVT Sometimes, You Just Know Twin Circumflex Arteries: A Rare Coronary Artery Anomaly What Do You Think? Meetings Calendar News from the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Scientific Session and the Society of Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (SCAI) Annual Scientific Sessions in Partnership with the ACC i2 Summit Clinical & Industry News Cath Laughs Classifieds Advertisers Index

Cath Lab Digest - April 2008

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