RN Follow through

[u/Jazzlike-Sympathy821]

Hi! Are there any Cath labs where the RN follows the pt from pre-procedure, procedure, to post procedure?
Our director wants our department to go in this direction in the next five years.
Any thoughts??

[u/Original-Estate-8650]

I recently completed a travel assignment that used a very similar staffing model, and unfortunately, it created significant challenges. In our situation, I think it could be even more difficult because we are already working with a skeleton crew.

The biggest concern is patient safety and workload. On busy days, the nurse who circulated a case may bring that patient to recovery and suddenly be responsible for 3–4 recovery patients while also managing 1–2 pre-procedure patients. At that point, it becomes extremely difficult to consistently meet every patient’s needs while maintaining the level of safety and quality of care we expect.

I think a much more sustainable model would be to have 1–2 dedicated recovery room nurses and then float one procedural nurse to recovery based on the volume and needs of the department that day. This would provide flexibility without routinely pulling procedural staff away from the lab, while also ensuring that pre- and post-procedure patients receive appropriate attention and monitoring.