Surgical technologist

The advantages of the vascular lab (VL) are a specialized knowledgeable team and a dedicated equipment which is transferrable to the procedure room to facilitate the procedure and gather information about the procedure endpoints. In this article, Registered Vascular Technologists (RVT) from various institutions discuss the basic and the complex ways the VL can be used inside a procedure room. The advantages of the vascular lab (VL) are a specialized knowledgeable team and dedicated equipment which is transferrable to the procedure room to facilitate the procedure and gather information about procedure endpoints...

A vascular laboratory (VL) can be defined as a place where physicians and technologists have a commitment to perform and interpret non-invasive testing with objective techniques that are most appropriate to the facility and the skills of the laboratory personnel. It provides the entry point for many patients as well as being the sight for diagnosis and follow up for patients with vascular disease for Interventional Radiologists (IRs). VLs may be run by a multi-specialty service, may be hospital-based, or may be private practice-based providing more of a concierge service...

Personnel and department accreditation are means by which institutions can evaluate, demonstrate, and maintain the highest level of patient care. In this article, we will discuss the certification and the resources for physicians (RPVI) and technologists (RVT) who provide care to patients in the vascular lab (VL) as well as information about certification by the two accrediting bodies - the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC) and the American College of Radiology (ACR) - that accredit VLs. Noninvasive vascular testing provides timely delivered valuable information to healthcare providers...

BACKGROUND: Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring is essential in neurosurgical procedures. In this study, we built and evaluated the performance of a deep neural network in differentiating between the presence and absence of a lateral spread response, which provides critical information during microvascular decompression surgery for the treatment of hemifacial spasm using intraoperatively acquired electromyography images. METHODS AND FINDINGS: A total of 3,674 image screenshots of monitoring devices from 50 patients were prepared, preprocessed, and then adopted into training and validation sets...

INTRODUCTION: An intraoperative cardiac arrest requires perioperative teams to be equipped with the technical skills, nontechnical skills, and confidence to provide the best resuscitative measures for the patient. In situ simulation (simulation conducted in health professionals' work environment, such as a patient care unit, and not in an off-site location) has the potential to improve team performance. The research team assessed the effects of in situ simulation on code response, teamwork, communication, and comfort in intraoperative resuscitations...

BACKGROUND: The hybrid room (HR) is a complex, high-risk environment, requiring teams (surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, technologists) to master various skills, including the 'As Low As Reasonably Achievable' principle of radiation safety. This prospective single center cohort reports the first use of the Operating Room Black Box (ORBB) in a HR. This medical data recording system captures procedural and audio-visual data to facilitate structured team performance analysis. METHODS: Patients planned for endovascular repair of an infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm (EVAR) or treatment of symptomatic iliac-femoral-popliteal atherosclerotic disease (Peripheral Vascular Interventions or PVI) were included...

BACKGROUND: Maintaining a sterile surgical environment is of the upmost importance in total joint arthroplasty. The surgical gown-glove interface is a frequent and known cause of bacterial contamination. A variation of the traditional staff-assisted open-gloving technique has been developed in an attempt to address this. In this method, the surgeon dons their undergloves before their gown. Although this has demonstrated improved sterility for the surgeon, no studies have considered the effects of this technique on the person assisting the surgeon...

Resource coordination in surgical scheduling remains challenging in health care delivery systems. This is especially the case in highly-specialized settings such as coordinating Intraoperative Neurophysiologic Monitoring (IONM) resources. Inefficient coordination yields higher costs, limited access to care, and creates constraints to surgical quality and outcomes. To maximize utilization of IONM resources, optimization-based algorithms are proposed to effectively schedule IONM surgical cases and technologists and evaluate staffing needs...

Background: Lack of evidence-based training constitutes a serious impediment to preventing surgical site infections in low-middle income countries (LMIC). The purpose of this study was to design and implement an infection prevention training programme and investigate how it might work in an LMIC. Intended for healthcare professionals working in operating rooms, the programme was based on current instructional design principles of interprofessional, task-based learning. The second aim was to carry out a formative evaluation exploring participants' and facilitators' perceptions and experiences of the training...

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to characterize the types of intraoperative delays during robotic-assisted thoracic surgery, operating room staff awareness/perceptions of delays, and cost impact of delays on overall operative costs. METHODS: Robotic-assisted thoracic surgery cases from May to August 2019 were attended by 3 third-party observers to record intraoperative delays. The postoperative surveys were given to operating room staff to elicit perceived delays. Observed versus perceived delays were compared using the McNemar test...

OBJECTIVES: Sonographers performing venous duplex ultrasounds (VDUS) in COVID-19 patients are placed at an increased risk for exposure due to close contact with these patients for an extended time period. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a modified COVID-19 VDUS protocol in reducing sonographer exposure to COVID-19 patients. METHODS: This was a single center retrospective review. Subjects who underwent a VDUS under the modified COVID-19 protocol between March 1, 2020, and June 30, 2020, with a confirmed or presumed COVID-19 diagnosis at the time of VDUS were included...

BACKGROUND: One strategy to address the impending shortage of vascular surgeons is to augment interest in the trainee pipeline. Endovascular procedures are unique to vascular surgery (VS) and endovascular simulations have proven effective at generating VS interest in the past. Like endovascular techniques, the use of ultrasound (US) testing in VS is unique among medical specialties. We hypothesized that an interactive US demonstration would increase VS interest in preclinical medical students...

BACKGROUND: Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has been reported as a valuable tool for bedside diagnoses of abdominal Aortic Aneurysms (AAA). However, no data exist regarding POCUS in measuring follow-up AAA diameter studies in patients with existing AAAs. The purpose of this study was to determine the variability of aortic measurements performed by a non-physician using POCUS vs standard of care (SOC) measurements by a registered vascular technologist or an abdominal/pelvic CT scan. METHODS: A prospective observational ultrasound study was performed from 1/1/2019 to 3/31/2021 on patients with a diagnosis of an AAA (≥3...

PURPOSE: Consensus on optimal imaging procedure for vascular graft/endograft infection (VGEI) is still lacking and the choice of a diagnostic test is often based on the experience of single centres. This document provides evidence-based recommendations aiming at defining which imaging modality may be preferred in different clinical settings and post-surgical time window. METHODS: This working group includes 6 nuclear medicine physicians appointed by the European Association of Nuclear Medicine, 4 vascular surgeons, and 2 radiologists...

BACKGROUND: Training is considered instrumental in reducing surgical site infection. We developed training based on authentic tasks, interprofessional learning, and reflective learning for implementation in a low-income country where such training opportunities are rare. This study evaluated the results of training in terms of participants' acceptance, participants' knowledge acquisition, and their self-perceived behavior change. METHODS: We included 145 participants in the voluntary training program, comprising 66 technologists (45...

OBJECTIVE: While the operating room (OR) is a keystone experience, medical students often report negative experiences and intimidation in the OR. The purpose of this study is to describe the perceived role of medical students in the OR by registered nurses and certified surgical technologists to improve medical student education. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey of select Massachusetts General Hospital perioperative staff in surgery was conducted through an anonymous survey in March 2021...

Scientist and technologist have long sought to advance limb prostheses that connect directly to the peripheral nervous system, enabling a person with amputation to volitionally control synthetic actuators that move, stiffen and power the prosthesis, as well as to experience natural afferent sensations from the prosthesis. Recently, the agonist-antagonist myoneural interface (AMI) was developed, a mechanoneural transduction architecture and neural interface system designed to provide persons with amputation improved muscle-tendon proprioception and neuroprosthetic control...

Scoliosis, a condition in which the spine develops abnormal curvature and rotation, typically is diagnosed before adulthood. Scoliosis can be caused by another medical condition or can be idiopathic. Medical imaging is essential in diagnosing and grading the severity of this disorder. Treatments include anti-inflammatory drugs, body braces, and corrective surgical procedures. To provide high-quality patient care, radiologic technologists should understand spinal anatomy, classifications of scoliosis, and treatment options...

The advent and implementation of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) have had a significant effect on breast cancer detection and image-guided breast procedures. DBT has been shown to improve the visualization of architectural distortions and noncalcified masses. With the incorporation of DBT imaging, biopsy of those findings seen only with DBT is feasible, and the need for localization and surgical excision to determine the pathologic diagnosis is avoided. The additional benefits of reduced procedural time, better localization, and increased technical success support the use of DBT for breast biopsy...

Epilepsy is a disorder of the brain, which is characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. These patients are generally treated with antiepileptic drugs. However, more than 30% of the patients become medically intractable and undergo a series of investigations to define candidates for epilepsy surgery. Nuclear Medicine studies using Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) radiopharmaceuticals are among the investigations used for this purpose. Since available guidelines for the investigation of surgical candidates are not up-to-date, The Nuclear Medicine Society of Thailand, The Neurological Society of Thailand, The Royal College of Neurological Surgeons of Thailand, and The Thai Medical Physicist Society has collaborated to develop this Thai national guideline for Nuclear Medicine study in epilepsy...