It may be helpful to hear what a week as a perfusionist can be like, so hear goes. The following is a run down of significant events at Mayo Clinic Hospital in AZ for the week of January 9th - 15th, 2011.
Monday: Pumped Triple Valve procedure, patient extremely hypertensive going on(MAP like 130)- used Mannitol, Magnesium boluses, max Isoflurane to create desired pressure drop. Pump run-3.5 hours. Hours at hospital- 6am-4pm.
Tuesday: Day of Observation. Watched Heartware VAD implant from head of table. Hope the long term data is good, the implant procedure is much improved over the HeartMate II. Hours at hospital- 8am-5pm.
Wednesday: Pumped TVR, MAZE procedure, smooth case. Pump run- just over 2 hours. Following, I assisted the head perfusionist on AVR/Ascending Aorta Repair surgery. Pump run- about 2 hours. Patient bleeding a huge issue after, surgeon did not close chest for about 3 more hours. When you get 6 bowls of cell saver, more than 2 units of FFP are necessary, but what do I know. Hours at hospital- 6am-8:30pm.
Thursday: Observed Total Artificial Heart implant, assisted as needed with VAD supplies/transport. Patient required V-V ECMO to come off pump, so I helped prime/initiate ECMO. Hours at hospital- 7:30am-4:30pm.
Friday: No scheduled surgeries. Called in at 1:30pm to set up for Heart Transplant. Pumped the case from about 11pm-2:45am. Left the hospital at 5am.
To be clear, this would be considered a busy week, but definitely not out of the ordinary. I've learned that in order to be happy in this profession, you have to have an open mind about how any day can go. Always be ready for the absolute worst to happen. It's only when you're not prepared that things really go wrong.
Best wishes everybody,
Brett Gehrer
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