Program Director of Cardiovascular Technology, Houston Community College, Coleman College of Health Science, Houston, Texas
I am a native Nebraskan, where I spent my childhood, but moved to Texas with my stepfather, stationed at Ellington in the Air Force, where I graduated high school. I loved science and had the option of choosing a hospital-based RN or a radiologic technologist program. I went for the exciting technical, mastered the basics and spent most of my time in the angio room (special procedures, since not many cardiac catheterization labs existed in the 1970’s). As the years pas

Professional Research Consultants (PRC, Omaha, NE) data assists Carolinas Healthcare System (CHS) in the maintenance of our elite status, and allows our organization to evaluate all areas of business and execute departmental plans to achieve service excellence. Overall quality of care drives vitality in healthcare, and service excellence is the driving force. The cardiac catheterization lab at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC, has consistently scored at or above the 90th percentile in overall quality of care. In the pursuit of excellence, patient satisfaction in all realms of care is

In mid-2007, an article appeared in Cath Lab Digest and on www.cathlabdigest.com outlining the four new “Cause Campaigns” initiated by the American Heart Association (AHA). Also in the article was a survey, asking you, our readership, if being a volunteer for some aspect of the AHA was part of your professional portfolio.

While the response rate to the survey was low, I was pleased to see that many aspects of AHA’s educational programming were familiar to you. Moreover, 56% of respondents stated they volunteer to raise awareness regarding heart health in their community.

The

This month’s column in Cath Lab Digest reviews embolic protection systems, from characteristics to techniques, so that physicians and allied health professionals have valuable and relevant information about this revolutionary technology.

By Henry Lui, MD
Dr. Lui is a Medical Director at the West Tennessee Heart Center in Jackson, TN, and is in private practice at Apex Cardiology, also in Jackson. Dr. Lui is actively involved in clinical research and serves as Director of Research at Research Associates of Jackson. Dr. Lui received his bachelor’s degree at the University of California

How prevalent are bifurcation lesions?
Bifurcation lesion incidence ranges from 30 to 40 percent of the lesions treated today with percutaneous intervention. There are some studies (such as the upcoming trial from Boston Scientific, SYNTAX) that are looking at complex multi-vessel disease plus or minus the left main, where the initial demographics have shown that up to 50% of treated lesions have at least one side branch related to the stenosis treated in the main branch. True bifurcations, where both segments of the bifurcation — meaning the main vessel and the side branch vessel — are i

Working for Corazon, a national firm niched in heart and vascular services, gives us the opportunity to have an insider’s view on many cardiac catheterization labs in all types of hospitals across the United States. As we build new or assess existing labs, we notice that each has its own set of challenges, though each also has unique achievements as well.
Over time, we have seen that in order for any lab to be successful, team members need to “step up” not only individually, but also as a department or program overall. In this article, we will discuss recommendations for improvement t

A Q&A column for those new to the cath lab

Questions are answered by:

Todd Ginapp, EMT-P, RCIS, FSICP

Todd is the Cardiology Manager for Memorial Hermann Southeast in Houston, Texas. He also teaches an online RCIS Review course for Spokane Community College, in Spokane, Washington, and regularly presents with RCIS Review Courses.

I have attended 2 formal 12-lead ECG interpretation classes over the last 3 years, but I can’t seem to remember everything. How can I apply this information to my job? — RCIS Review Online student

I understand your concern. When I firs

A short door-to-balloon time (D2B) ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) intervention has two major components that must be well understood to achieve the desired benefits of primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). These components include the STEMI “process” — the series of actions, including the essential pre-hospital component, that deliver a STEMI patient to the cardiovascular laboratory in an expedited fashion, and the “procedure” that results in rapid restoration of epicardial and myocardial perfusion to the infarcting heart.

The success of outstanding pr

In February of 2006, Ms. Post’s department implemented Owens & Minor’s Clinical Supply Solutions (CSS), an inventory, order, contract, utilization management and revenue enhancement service enabled by a proprietary web-based technology platform. The interventional radiology department at University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics not only saved money and time, but unexpectedly found physician-technologist relationships strengthened.

What was the state of your inventory that caused you to consider implementing something new?

The state was one of concern.

I have been in the

The Illinois Chapter of Society of the Invasive Cardiovascular Professionals held our meeting June 4, 2008 at Wildfire Restaurant, Schaumburg, IL. The topic of discussion was “CV Pathways: Best Practices for Better Outcomes,” presented by Parag Patel, DO, FACC, CICU Director and interventional cardiologist from Lutheran General Hospital. SICP members were honored to have Dr. Patel present at the meeting. The meeting was a great success with over 40 attendants from many hospitals. We would like to thank Terry Smith, representative of Sanofi Aventis, for its sponsorship of the meeting. Repre