Prepare for Cath lab with confidence

What your Cath 90-day path covers

• ✓The pre-procedure assessment that decides whether the case proceeds
• ✓Consent, fasting, and the medication holds that actually matter
• ✓Renal risk stratification and pre-procedure hydration
• ✓Radial access: patency, spasm and the radial cocktail
• ✓Femoral access: landmarks, ultrasound guidance and the high stick
• ✓Sheath removal, manual pressure and closure devices
• ✓Pressure transduction, zeroing and the damped waveform
• ✓Right heart catheterization: pressures, cardiac output and shunt
• ✓Aortic and ventricular waveforms: gradients, damping and ventricularization
• ✓Coronary anatomy, dominance and reading the angiogram
• ✓Lesion assessment: fractional flow reserve, iFR and intravascular imaging
• ✓Balloon angioplasty and stent deployment
• ✓Complex intervention: bifurcation, chronic total occlusion and calcium modification
• ✓No-reflow, dissection, perforation and acute stent thrombosis
• ✓STEMI activation, door-to-balloon and the choreography of a primary case
• ✓Cardiogenic shock and mechanical circulatory support in the laboratory
• ✓Heparin, bivalirudin and activated clotting time guided anticoagulation
• ✓Oral antiplatelet therapy: loading, switching and the bleeding balance
• ✓Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors, vasoactives and the emergency drug tray
• ✓Contrast-associated kidney injury during and after the case
• ✓Contrast reactions: recognition, premedication and treatment
• ✓Moderate sedation: depth, capnography and rescue
• ✓Airway emergencies and knowing when to call anesthesia
• ✓Radiation physics, dose and ALARA in the laboratory
• ✓Skin injury, dose tracking and radiation in pregnancy
• ✓Retroperitoneal hemorrhage: the bleed you cannot see
• ✓Pseudoaneurysm, arteriovenous fistula and groin hematoma
• ✓Radial complications: occlusion, perforation and compartment syndrome
• ✓Cardiac tamponade and pericardiocentesis in the laboratory
• ✓Arrhythmia and cardiac arrest on the table
• ✓Air embolism, procedural stroke and equipment failure
• ✓Transcatheter aortic valve replacement: workflow, conduction and vascular risk
• ✓Transcatheter mitral and tricuspid repair
• ✓Left atrial appendage occlusion, septal defect closure and valvuloplasty
• ✓Peripheral vascular intervention and acute limb ischemia
• ✓Electrophysiology study and catheter ablation
• ✓Pacemaker and defibrillator implant: pocket, leads and early complications
• ✓Post-procedure recovery: access checks, ambulation and discharge criteria
• ✓Dual antiplatelet adherence, stent thrombosis education and follow-up
• ✓Sterile field, infection prevention and the time-out
• ✓Escalation, closed-loop communication and documentation

Start with a free gap analysis

Before you study anything, AscendRN's gap analysis shows you exactly where you stand across the ten competencies that matter for cath lab — patient assessment, pharmacology, prioritization, and more. You find your gaps here, in minutes, instead of at the bedside. Then your path adapts to close them.

Free to start. No card required.

Join thousands of nurses preparing for their specialty on AscendRN.