Optimal Utilization of Registered Nurses Through All Phases of Care in the Cardiac Cath Lab

The highly specialized skills of registered nurses (RNs) in the cardiac catheterization laboratory pose unique problems for administrators when dealing with staffing shortages. Faced with a temporary reduction of 25% of the total RN labor and 50% of the procedural RN labor, a cardiac catheterization laboratory in north central Illinois resorted to cross-training RNs through all the phases of care, including preadmission, preprocedural, intraprocedural, and postprocedural care. This creative staffing solution solved the short-term staffing issue and had the added benefit of improving interpositional team knowledge and morale.