learn to do it
Joe asked me to cross-post this video here from the EMCrit Site. Every doc and nurse should be able to set one of these up in <2 minutes for rapid arterial and central venous pressure monitoring.
I recommend transducing an arterial line for every code that comes in the door. It requires a little advanced preparation, but its well worth it. I use the transduced pressure to determine coronary perfusion pressure – which shows me the quality of CPR; and I can use pressors to optimize the CPP for ROSC. No ROSC? Well now you have a GREAT conduit to pass a wire and swap out to ECMO cannulas (Stage 2). Its also great practice for your nurses.
I also believe (and I think Scott agrees with me) that every resuscitationist should know how to set up an arterial line – its not just the responsibility of the nurse. Take a look at this short video by Scott…