Coronary Care (CCU) Monitoring
CCU monitoring consisted of monitors mounted to the wall above the patient’s bed and a central monitoring console from which nursing staff could see all the patients’ heart rhythms. This equipment, dated from 1966, and by 1990 was seriously in need of replacement, especially since it had caught fire on one occasion.
Dr Clyde Wade: “In addition to the urgent need to replace the CCU monitors, the whole CCU was out of date and in desperate need of reorganisation and refurbishment. The X Ray equipment used for putting in temporary pacemakers was almost unusable. I spoke with the hospital’s General Manager and was told that we could have a refurbished CCU or new monitors, but not both. In addition, there was no money for a new X Ray machine. After discussion with The Heart Trust, I put a proposal to the GM: The Trust would pay for the monitors if the hospital would pay for the refurbishment, and we could recycle some of the old Cardiac Catheterisation laboratory equipment to be used for temporary pacemaker insertion. The deal was done, and lessons learned. The upgraded CCU was opened by the Minister of Health in June 1991. I used this technique again, especially with the development of the TAVI and Electrophysiology services”
Image supplied by Waikato Times
Email: info@thehearttrust.org.nz
Phone: 027 391 5854
Address: 14 Horne Street, Hamilton 3204