Fast Facts for the Cath Lab Nurse

This quick-access resource delivers a practical orientation for the cath lab. For nurses with a background in cardiac care or intensive care, the cath lab is replete with new challenges and learning opportunities. It is an increasingly complex environment with increasingly challenging procedures. Most effectively run by an interdisciplinary team, all healthcare providers in the cath lab uphold different roles to contribute to patient care and achieve successful procedural outcomes.

Fast Facts for the Cath Lab Nurse clearly presents the role of the nurse in the cath lab and how to assist with basic and advanced cath lab procedures. Written in a simple, easy-to-read format with streamlined, bulleted information, this orientation guide breaks down procedures and provides essential information for each step. Chapters cover interpreting pressure waveforms, understanding various calculations, identifying angiographic images, and more competently providing care to patients in the peri-procedural period.

Key Features

• Provides tables, examples of common hemodynamic calculations, images of pressure waveforms and angiogram
• Begins each chapter with key learning objectives
• Provides a quick anatomy review
• Assists with Registered Cardiovascular invasive Specialist (RCIS) certification

Brenda Kirkpatrick McCulloch, RN, MSN, RCIS, has been a cardiovascular clinical nurse specialist, supporting the cardiovascular service line at Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento, California, for the past 15 years.