EP Lab Digest - October 2007 - (Page 11)

OCTOBER 2007 SPOTLIGHT INTERVIEW 11 and cath insertions. Both RNs and Rad techs operate the ablator. The State of Indiana does not allow the registered nurse to perform any function related to radiology. Our techs or physicians perform any function related to our fluoroscopy equipment. metric that are currently under review into our quality improvement program. We review incidence of any adverse event, hematoma and lead dislodgement as well as beta blocker and ACE/ARBs prescribed at discharge for patients with an EF ≤ 40%. These will be reported to our Cardiac QA committee. What new equipment, devices and/or products have been introduced at your lab lately? How has this changed the way you perform those procedures? We’ve added CARTOMERGE (Biosense Webster Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, Diamond Bar, California) within the past 6 months. This required collaboration with our CT department for precertification issues, protocols, orders, etc. In addition, we have fully implemented LATITUDE (Boston Scientific, Natick, Massachusetts) and CareLink (Medtronic, Minneapolis, Minnesota) into our clinic. CARTOMERGE is great technology that allows us to visualize the actual anatomy of our atrial fibrillation patients instead of having to do prolonged mapping procedures. With time, we hope to decrease our fluoroscopy time as well as procedure times. We will also evaluate each patient for use of CARTOMERGE — especially those with potential congenital defects. LATITUDE and CareLink are very useful tools to have in the department. It has taken some creativity to establish guidelines that work for both the staff and physicians when responding to alerts found within the system. We have also assumed the responsibility of doing LATITUDE and CareLink for clinics not associated with the Community Healthcare System, which presents a whole different set of issues, as these patients are not normally seen in our clinics. How is inventory managed at your EP lab? Who handles the purchasing of equipment and supplies? A software program is utilized for the purchase of supplies in the departments of the different facilities. The radiology techs are assigned the responsibility of inventory, stocking and ordering, and have a good working relationship with our Materials Management Department. Since we are regionalized, we work under the same cost center as well as account numbers at all three facilities.We also have standardized supplies at all three institutions to ease the process of keeping an appropriate inventory level as well as keeping staff familiar with stock items. Figure 2. K. Kenneth Eng, MD, SC anesthesiologist (right) discusses database information with Rayna Ehrhardt, data coordinator (seated), in the EP lab of St. Mary Medical Center. Has your EP lab recently expanded in size and patient volume, or will it be in the near future? It is expected that within the next year we will increase services at Community Hospital, so there will be designated staff at that facility. This is done as a result of adding physicians and changing referral patterns of the medical staff. This will require the addition of RN and EP Rad tech staff. Current staff will continue to support all clinics and procedures at St. Mary Medical Center and at St. Catherine Hospital. Figure 3. Patricia Campano, RN, Scott Kaufman, DO and Kellie Weeks, RN (pictured left to right) work together on an EP study in the lab at St. Mary Medical Center. Who handles your procedure scheduling? Do you use particular software? We currently utilize an electronic scheduling program to schedule all clinics, procedures and remote ICD monitoring. The staff has open access to the program and can do scheduling from all three of our sites. The program is fully utilized at St. Mary Medical Center, and will be added in 2008 to St. Catherine Hospital and Community Hospital. How has managed care affected your EP lab and the care it provides patients? We continue to provide all services needed to our patient population. We have worked extensively with our managed care offices to develop contracts that address “hardware” as well as components related to the complex ablations requiring 3D mapping. Our manager alerts the managed care personnel to any issues that may affect our contractual arrangements. What type of quality control/quality assurance measures are practiced in your EP lab? We currently participate as a Premier member in the ACC/NCDR ICD database.We have incorporated the proposed Have you developed a referral base? We have an excellent working relationship with the cardiologists at St. Mary Medical Center as well as internal See SPOTLIGHT page 12 Figure 4. Electrophysiology Lab Medical Director Mark Dixon, DO (right) reviews films with Chris Atherton, RN, Regional Manager-EP Services, in one of the procedure rooms at St. Mary Medical Center.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EP Lab Digest - October 2007

Finally! The New Registered Cardiac Electrophysiology Specialist (RCES) Credential: Interview with Christopher M. Nelson, RN, RCIS, FSICP ECG 101: Closing the Gap Phenomenon Contents Letter from the Editor ICD Patient Support Group: St. Peter’s Hospital Spotlight Interview: Community Healthcare System Use of Magnetic Catheter Navigation for Ablation of Focal Tachycardias Echocardiography: The Preeminent Front Line Screening and Diagnostic Tool for Cardiovascular Imaging and Physiological Assessment First Annual EP Lab Digest Salary Survey: Last Chance! Clinical Trial Update: 2007 Email Discussion Group Adopting and Implementing the AF Ablation Consensus Statement Electrophysiology in the West Summit Events Calendar The Sustained Treatment of Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation (STOP AF) Clinical Trial: Interview with Kevin Wheelan, MD Industry News and Products

EP Lab Digest - October 2007

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