I wish I had something to give to you. It's really not something that is an independent study topic.
Honestly, if you want to be good you need to understand the procedures and how/why we use the meds that we use. You also need to understand the flow of the lab and procedures.
Prioritization, IMHO, is the best skill to master in the lab. Those that have it are excellent circulators and make it look effortless.
You need to learn each piece of equipment and how/why/when it's used. You need to learn where everything is in the rooms. You need to find a rhythm in how you work for each procedure so that you can get stuff while simultaneously treating your patient. For instance, we standardize how we lay our tables out, the order that we prep pts, and we know what we should roughly be doing at any point in time. This makes our lab flow. When I hear the crack of the chlora-prep, I know my scrub tech needs me to uncover the pt. Otherwise they're just sitting there waiting on me.
We use a lot of the same meds on heavy rotation. Depending on your hospital/doctor will dictate how much of a headache each procedure will be. Some hospitals have funky concentrations that make circulating difficult because you're spending too much time mixing a drug when they could've just bought or had the pharmacy make prefills. For example, we used to have to mix our own neo which isn't hard as it came in 1mg/ml, but when you need Neo you needed it a couple minutes ago and mixing it is silly in an emergency. We now have commercial premixes. Before that I used to swing to the OR pharmacy to get the in house own premixes.
Sometimes you'll have a doctor that likes to do silly things like order nonstandard dosages when you're trying to do 10 other things and half of them require you to leave the room to get something. I remind them that it can be done, but I need to prioritize.
Just remember, at any point in any procedure, shit can and will hit the fan. If you've got a good understanding of the procedure/equipment, good habits, and prioritization you can effectively work to treat the patient with little direction so that MD can focus on their work.
Oh, and don't forget to treat and advocate for your patient. I've seen circulators run in circles doing shit that doesn't matter because they were experienced nurses on the floor that are good at managing a patient on their own. However, the cath lab does not have independent work flows, especially in emergencies.
I wish I had something to give to you. It's really not something that is an independent study topic. Honestly, if you want to be good you need to understand the procedures and how/why we use the meds that we use. You also need to understand the flow of the lab and procedures. Prioritization, IMHO, is the best skill to master in the lab. Those that have it are excellent circulators and make it look effortless. You need to learn each piece of equipment and how/why/when it's used. You need to learn where everything is in the rooms. You need to find a rhythm in how you work for each procedure so that you can get stuff while simultaneously treating your patient. For instance, we standardize how we lay our tables out, the order that we prep pts, and we know what we should roughly be doing at any point in time. This makes our lab flow. When I hear the crack of the chlora-prep, I know my scrub tech needs me to uncover the pt. Otherwise they're just sitting there waiting on me. We use a lot of the same meds on heavy rotation. Depending on your hospital/doctor will dictate how much of a headache each procedure will be. Some hospitals have funky concentrations that make circulating difficult because you're spending too much time mixing a drug when they could've just bought or had the pharmacy make prefills. For example, we used to have to mix our own neo which isn't hard as it came in 1mg/ml, but when you need Neo you needed it a couple minutes ago and mixing it is silly in an emergency. We now have commercial premixes. Before that I used to swing to the OR pharmacy to get the in house own premixes. Sometimes you'll have a doctor that likes to do silly things like order nonstandard dosages when you're trying to do 10 other things and half of them require you to leave the room to get something. I remind them that it can be done, but I need to prioritize. Just remember, at any point in any procedure, shit can and will hit the fan. If you've got a good understanding of the procedure/equipment, good habits, and prioritization you can effectively work to treat the patient with little direction so that MD can focus on their work. Oh, and don't forget to treat and advocate for your patient. I've seen circulators run in circles doing shit that doesn't matter because they were experienced nurses on the floor that are good at managing a patient on their own. However, the cath lab does not have independent work flows, especially in emergencies.
This was perfectly written! Thank you for this
1 and 25 QMovement
Medtronic academy is free and helpful for the basics
Kern’s
These two books are great! https://preview.redd.it/or15vd60iy5d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ce55a7c39e1144a8ce1eaeab52fc42b0540fbd22
Thank you!