What is the size of your EP lab facility and number of staff members? What is the mix of credentials at your lab?
We have one dedicated EP room with the option of using a CV room on our busy days. Our EP lab is staffed by Physicians Assistants (PAs), Nurse Practitioners (NPs), RNs, CVTs and RT’s.

The PAs and NPs work to ensure all of our patients are ready for their respective procedures in the lab. In addition, they play a significant role with EP consults, discharge planning and follow-up care.

Because we share RN staff between the cath and EP labs, all of our nurses are trained in the specialty. We have two CVTs, one RT and one RN that are dedicated to EP, who are also cross trained to interventional cardiology; the rest of our CVT/RT staff rotate into EP as support to the dedicated staff. All staff must successfully pass ACLS.

Dr. Louis Janeira is a practicing cardiac electrophysiologist with Community Heart and Vascular Physical in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is also a published author of two medical murder mysteries. In writing these books, Dr. Janeira hopes to teach the reader about the different cardiac and EP conditions with which Dr. Janeira deals daily. Learn more about Dr. Janeira and his writing career here.

Tell us about your medical background and how you came to work in the field of electrophysiology. What interested you about this field?
Arrhythmia interpretation and management always came easily to me. I started out as a paramedic. My team and I would respond to all kinds of emergencies. I felt the most comfortable with arrhythmia cases. I was the one my peers came to for help with interpretation of the unusual rhythm strips, the funny little beats. That was the case with my EMS peers as well as later with my medical student and resident counterparts.

In this article, EP Lab Digest speaks with Allen S. Braswell, Jr., JD, CEO of Pico-Tesla, about their Magneceutical™ Therapy, which involves the use of a very precise, extremely low-level electromagnetic field (EMF) applied by a specially designed device called the Resonator™. Recently, data from a study completed at the University of Oklahoma’s Heart Rhythm Institute suggested that extremely low-level EMFs could prevent and reverse involuntary remodeling of the heart by terminating and preventing atrial fibrillation (AF). Learn more about this promising therapy here.

Tell us about the background of Pico-Tesla’s Magneceutical™ Therapy, and when the Resonator™ was created.

Do you have a new question you would like to submit? You can also follow our EP discussion online at http://eplabdigest.com/discussion-questions.

New Question:

Staffing Practices
We are surveying labs throughout the country for feedback regarding staffing practices. How many staff members are required to perform procedures? What is the role/function of each person? Have you ever performed procedures with less than a full team (as defined by your institution)? Where have you obtained data to support your standard of care?
— C. Levine, RN, BSN, MA