Description of Unit
The Adult Stress Echo Lab is located on the first floor of the UF Health Heart & Vascular Hospital. The Lab performs inpatient and outpatient testing, inclusive of comprehensive 2D/3D transthoracic echocardiograms, treadmill stress echo tests, Dobutamine stress echo tests, and treadmill EKG stress tests. Hours of operations are 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday for outpatients and 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Sunday for inpatients.
Description of Patient Population
Patients are referred to the facility from external referrals or internal orders. These are included but not limited to; primary care physicians, emergency departments, inpatient units, and intensive care units. Common diagnoses of patients receiving care in the Adult Stress Echo Lab are angina, pre/post heart transplant, pre/post lung transplant, cardiomyopathy, valvular heart disease, pre-operative risk assessment, syncope, palpitations, and chest pain. The patient population cared for by the Adult Stress Echo Lab are of 18 years of age or older.
Nursing Care
Nursing care is mainly focused on patient care during the stress tests. The nursing care also assists with starting intravenous lines on outpatients for the administration of Saline Contrast studies and Definity Contrast studies. Routine duties include but are not limited to medication review, vital signs and assessment, oxygen therapy, telemetry monitoring during stress testing, monitoring patients’ condition before, during, and after exercise on the treadmill.
Health Care Team
The Adult Stress Echo Lab medical director is board-certified in his/her respective area. Intra-procedural care is provided by Attending Cardiologist, Cardiac Fellows, Nurses, and Sonographers. Management for this area include Cath Lab Nurse Manager, Clinical Coordinator Noninvasive Imaging, and Director of Cardiovascular Operations.
Multidisciplinary, comprehensive care of patients and families is provided by medicine, nursing, social work services, case management, pastoral care, pharmacy, rehab services, cardiopulmonary services, and other health care providers as indicated by the patient’s health status and identified needs.
Basic requirements for RN staff include current Florida RN licensure, and current ACLS.
Basic requirements for Sonographer staff include completion of an approved allied health program, current registration from Cardiovascular Credentialing International or American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography, and current BLS.
Staffing Plan
The Adult Echo Lab team includes 1 sonographer per case. The Adult Echo Stress procedures include up to 2 nurses and 1 sonographer per case. Emergency and off-hour transthoracic echocardiogram cases are performed by 1 on-call sonographer. Weekday 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM is staffed up to 13 sonographers and up to 3 nurses. Weekend 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM is staffed up to 3 sonographers for inpatient care only. The on-call is 5:00 PM to 7:00 AM Monday through Sunday for sonographers only. Requests for scheduled PTO will be reviewed on case-by-case basis and will consider the staffing needs of the department.
Reviewed 1/2021
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