ICE Catheterization Lab Observations
Nurses assist the physician during catheterization procedures. There specific roles are; patient care and medication, administering conscious sedation, patient procedure monitoring and most importantly providing an emergency medication. From the start to the end of operations, the nurse has to be there. Moreover, nurses should interview the patient before any operation is started. Questions about allergies, heart diseases and previous illness are part of the assessment nurses should conduct. This assessment is necessary to know the health status of the patient. It is important to do patient assessment frequently to establish the medication effectiveness.
Catheterization requires the following tools; a catheter, guide wire, balloon, stent, vascular closure devices, atherectomy device, intravascular ultrasound, fractional flow reserve and the optical coherence tomography imaging. The optical coherence tomography imaging helps in taking blood vessel wall pictures. The fractional low reserve is used to measure a restriction of blood flow in the artery while the intravascular ultrasound is used to create body part images. The atherectomy is used to unblock the narrowed artery and in the process improving blood flow. The catheter helps to offer treatments inside the vessels of the blood, as opposed to the wire guide which is used to place tents or balloons. These devices must be present before catheterization.
Catheterization lab conducts a number of procedures. Some of these include; angioplasty treatment, cardioversion clinics assessment, Coronary Artery bypasses Graft and Aortic Valve Replacement. In addition, the lab is used to carry out research in the field of electrophysiology. Its uses are centered on the heart.
The physician should use a sedation to make the patient comfortable. Fentanyl is mostly used. It is usually referred to as IV sedation. Such medication induces drowsiness for some time. Nurses should follow the indications provided by Delphi study. The indications during these operations are that by using peripheral IV, access to peripheral circulation of the patient is made. This will enable one to take blood samples and infuse IV medications and fluids. In all serious patients, IV is needed because it manages problem likely to be encountered. As well, trauma patients may require high resuscitation of volume fluid. For contraindication management, different medications have to be used. Massive edema extremities need assessment. In addition, for patients with abdominal trauma there is a need to start with IV. Most importantly, for patients with cellulitis extremity, there is a need to avoid the area of infection when starting with IV. Injuries in the urethra are observed in patients with many injuries and straddle impacts. Retrograde urethrography should be performed if one finds blood in the urethra.
Notably, there are specific requirements to be met before one becomes an anesthetist. To start with, one must have a Bachelor's or baccalaureate degree in nursing. The other conditions include; current license as a registered nurse have undergone training in large community hospitals, at least a year of experience in acute care nursing and have graduated from the school of nurse anesthesia. Without these qualifications, one cannot become a nurse anesthetist.
All emergency employees must know guidelines, admissions criteria, protocols and diagnosis in the clinical centre. Correct record keeping should be ensured to avoid confusion and increase the quality of work. The international hospital specialist is responsible for the management of all the emergencies. The crucial points to be talked about before the patient leaves include; activity level, findings of catheterization and the medications. Moreover, the patient should do light activities. It is necessary for the patient to plan to stay with someone overnight after the treatment.
Catheterization takes at most thirty minutes. However, recovery and preparation time may take several hours. Necessary personnel only should be present during this procedure. Sometimes a family member can be allowed to witness. The primary personnel include; nurses, lab technicians and the physician. A good nurse, working in the catheterization lab, should possess the following qualities; good communication skills, sane and should be patient. In addition, such nurses are supposed to be good record keepers. The way they talk to patients should show an element of kindness and love for them but not being sympathetic. Before any treatment is started, nurses should prepare a good environment for assessment of the patient.
Procedurally, an agreement is to be made by the patient before the nurse on the readiness for catheterization and then sedation follows. During the procedure, the nurse should be medicating the patient. After the procedure, the nurse has to carry out a post-assessment. Usually, this assessment is meant to know how the patient is feeling after catheterization. In-patient and out-patient clients are isolated at this point. Post-medication is then done to the patient. In addition, post-catheterization care must be carried out whether the patient is admitted or not.
Working in the cardiac catheterization lab requires experience and a manual of reference. In conjunction to these, one must have undergone a professional educational training in this field. Nurses and physicians must have been oriented in the lab and should have trained at the vicinity of experienced personnel.
It is important to promote efficient coordination in the cardiac catheterization lab. One step must lead to another. Assessment must be done first then sedation. The whole process is very delicate. Therefore, it is important to follow the right procedures, indications and contraindications.
