perfusionist responsibilities

l  Duties and Responsibilities
of a Perfusionist

l  Brian Schwartz, CCP

l  September 2, 2003

l  Perfusion I

l  Primary Duty of a Perfusionist

l  Assuring the safety of the patient undergoing surgery

l  #1 hazard is the introduction of air

l  “The ultimate and primary responsibility of the cardiovascular perfusionist not to allow the oxygenating device be emptied thereby introducing air into the cardiovascular system of the patient”

l  Primary Duty (cont)

l  Safety must be the overriding consideration…regardless of any other responsibilities

l  The perfusionist is responsible for maintaining sterility of the disposables, monitoring, and protecting the heart and lung machine from damage

l Maintaining Adequate Blood Flow

l  Must be able to calculate adequate blood flows

l  Must maintain blood flow throughout procedure

l  Must be able to adjust flow according to metabolic needs and hemodynamic changes

l Maintaining Adequate Blood Pressure

l  Must maintain and regulate blood pressure of patient according to your hospitals policy and procedures

l  Maintain open communication with all members of the open-heart team

l Maintaining Adequate Oxygenation of Blood

l  Must consider each case individually and choice the proper device to be used for cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB)

l  Must be able to adjust the device to maintain

l Normal Blood Gases

l Normal Base Excess

l Adequate Oxygenation

l Adequate Removal of Carbon Dioxide

l Operation of Suction Pumps and Vent System

l  With this responsibility one needs complete communication with surgeons

l  Suction Pumps

l Allow surgeon to have better visualization of surgical field

l  Vent System

l Help with the evacuation of air in certain chambers of the heart

l Helps to maintain the decompression of the heart

l Maintaining Proper Blood Temperatures

l  Maintaining proper temperature gradients of blood

l  Maintaining proper temperatures of the following according to policy and procedures

l Blood

l Organs

l Patient’s Temperature

l Maintaining All Relevant Information

l  Information should include but not limited to:

l Past medical history

l Drug allergies

l Diagnosis

l Vital signs

l Results of blood gases

l Important times

l  Must be written neatly and precisely for legal reason

l Proper Maintenance of all Equipment

l  Preventative Maintenance (PM’s) helps reduce accidents

l  Must keep records of all PM’s

l  PM’s should be done every six months

l  Proper Standards of Practice

l  Standards may be:

l Hospital Protocols

l Surgeons Protocol

l Regional or National Protocol

l  Perfusion Services

l  Perfusionist must be available to provide their services to a patient

l Perfusionist in-house

l Perfusionist on-call

l Perfusionist only 30 minutes away from hospital