This time of year, media commentators in various fields tend to summarize the highlights of the past year into a neat, tidy package (perhaps one with lots of bullet points). As viewers, readers, or listeners, we then gain a sense of being able to move forward unencumbered, into next year’s blank slate. It’s a particularly American habit, I think. We like to have a sense of closure on the past and look ahead into the future with our famous American optimism.

However, our past never fully leaves us behind you might say we follow it into the future. A good illustration of this point is

Carolinas Medical Center (CMC) is the flagship facility of Carolinas HealthCare System. As one of the Carolinas’ largest hospitals, it serves as a quaternary referral center for a 29-county multi-state region and portions of the Southeast and beyond. CMC opened in 1940 and has 795 beds. The cardiac cath lab is the third largest in the state.

What is the size of your cath lab facility and number of staff members?

We have eight invasive cath suites that consist of:

1 same-day cardiac diagnostic/ vascular diagnostic

1 vascular

3 interventional/diagnostic

1 pedia

Our original 2001 article generated a substantial response from Cath Lab Digest readers across the nation. It seemed that many cath lab programs were also looking for methods to improve revenue recovery at that time. (We would be interested in learning how many readers actually went ahead with their own programs, and of those who started a program, how many experienced the growth in awareness that we did.) We quickly became aware that revenue recovery is like an iceberg. The three issues that we tackled at the initial introduction of our program [lack of documented medical necessity in

Overview of AngioJet Rheolytic Thrombectomy System

Another mode of treatment for acute myocardial infarction is the AngioJet® Rheolytic Thrombectomy System (Possis Medical, Inc., Minneapolis, MN). AngioJet is a thrombectomy catheter used to extract or remove clot (thrombus burden) from within the coronary artery.

The catheter is a 135 cm, 4.0 French, sterile, single-use catheter designed and approved for removing thrombus from coronary arteries. High velocity saline jets directed back into the catheter create a localized low-pressure zone at the distal tip (Bernoulli effect) w

Dr. Hermiller received his undergraduate degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and earned his MD from Ohio State University School of Medicine in Columbus, Ohio. He did his internship and residency in internal medicine at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. He completed his cardiology fellowship at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, and his interventional cardiology fellowship at Nasser, Smith & Pinkerton Cardiology in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Currently, Dr. Hermiller is the Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Labs for The Care

Hospitals today are strapped for cash and often times, one of the first things to go is staff education. In my hospital alone there were twenty-two staff educators in 1992; today there are two. Hemodynamics, EKG, ACLS and emergency cardiac drugs are about the only classes offered to cath lab staff. Fortunately, eight years ago, with support from one of our cardiac physicians (thank you, Dr. Peck), our department started sending two staff to a major educational event each year. This year, it was my turn to go to a major conference.

I live and work in Podunk, Michigan (what a new intervent

An RFP, or Request for Proposal, can set the course for either a successful or disappointing new construction or expansion project, before the selection of a design team. That’s because to get the right answers, healthcare providers must ask the right questions.

Writing a good RFP can make or break a project. Why? According to The Request for Proposal Handbook by John Adler, many RFPs have serious flaws. For example, they don't structure the evaluation process so that it’s fair and open, they omit major requirements, and they don’t ask for risk management information.

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The following professional societies sent representation:

American College of Cardiology
Joseph Messer, MD

American Society of Echocardiography
Ken Horton, RCS, RDMS, FASE
Nelson Schiller, MD

British Society of Echocardiography
Kevin Fox, MD

Society of Invasive Cardiovascular
Professionals
Charles Barbiere, RCIS, CCT, RN, CCRN, FSICP

Society for Vascular Ultrasound
Claudia Benge, RDCS, RDMS, RVS, RVT

Thai Cardiovascular Invasive Society
Chris Nelson, RN, RCIS, FSICP

CCI™s current officers are:
President Elaine A. Shea, RCIS, RCS
President

I’ve been in the cardiology business for 20 or so years. Although I have found the diagnosis of our patients interesting and feel a sense of accomplishment after an intervention, what I have also found interesting is our patients’ past.

Every day in the cath lab we are bombarded with new technologies, new procedures and more paperwork. We have forgotten about the patient. If we take a second to talk to them, our patients have a fascinating history.

This month’s issue of Cath Lab Digest launches At the Crossroads, a new column featuring interesting stories we in the cath