Catholic Medical Center’s New England Heart & Vascular Institute (NEHVI) opened a new service area Monday designed to enhance the experience of cardiac catheterization patients. The Cardiac Radial Lounge is a modernized, pre- and post-procedural area that offers patients convenience and comfort for their catheterization procedure.
“Patients who prepare and recover in the Cardiac Radial Lounge enjoy a shorter hospital stay and a more streamlined procedure overall,” says Dr. James Flynn, Director of Cardiac Catheterization, Interventional Cardiology, and the Structural Heart Program at NEHVI. “Patients will truly feel that their catheterization is an outpatient procedure—high tech, but also convenient and designed with their comfort in mind.”
Patients who use the Cardiac Radial Lounge never need to leave the first floor of the hospital. They have their pre-procedural work done in a lounge chair, and recover there after their catheterization is done, while being monitored by the Cardiac Catheterization Lab medical team. Formerly, these patients were checked into a nursing unit for prep and recovery. That space can now be used for more acute cardiac patients.
“The Cardiac Radial Lounge is a best practice in caring for elective cardiac catheterization patients at major heart centers around the country,” says Dr. Louis Fink, Executive Medical Director of NEHVI. “I’m pleased we’re able to offer this experience for patients in New Hampshire.”
Radial catheterization patients have the catheter for their procedure inserted into their radial artery, located in their forearm. The procedure is less invasive than femoral (or leg) catheterization, requires very little time in the hospital and generally has fewer complications than the femoral approach. Catheterization can be used to place a stent or aid in taking advanced images of a patient’s heart, among other purposes.
The Cardiac Radial Lounge staff and CMC leaders recently held a socially-distanced ribbon cutting and blessing of the six-bay space, which is expected to serve up to 10 elective patients per day. CMC joins major heart centers around the country with this best practice in caring for cardiac catherization patients.