Advanced practice organ procurement techniques: placement of pulmonary artery catheters

Abstract

Insertion of pulmonary artery catheters by organ procurement coordinators may be incorporated into donor management to optimize organ perfusion. As invasive procedures are added to coordinator roles, the organ procurement organization must include didactic instruction and supervised clinical experience as part of any training program. Policies and procedures guiding the use of the pulmonary artery catheter and the measurements obtained must be provided by the organization to guide practitioners. This article focuses on methods for insertion and basic troubleshooting of a pulmonary artery catheter.

Technical Aspects of Intravascular Pressure Monitoring during Donor Care

“…The display can be compared on a variety of electronic scales for convenience of interpretation. For example, when a pulmonary artery catheter is inserted, 13 the monitor display of the amplified venous waveform is adjusted to show the venous waveform transition through the heart, using a scale from 0 to 60 mm Hg to enlarge the waveform changes, while other monitoring scales can be used for routine observations. Other features of the monitor's display programs may include "freezing" or stopping the waveform's progression across the screen to allow closer inspection, memory functions, transport of the signal to other remote monitors, trending of variables over time, connection to a paper recording device, and alarm features to detect deviations from set parameters.…”