Ventricular Assist Devices (VAD) come in many shapes and sizes. From right to left, extracorporeal to intracorporeal, pulsatile to continuous – It can be confusing. Join us for a podcast episode where Allen Wolfe clarifies the confusion and gives us the maximum amount of knowledge we need to succeed while taking care of these patients.
Low Flow Troubleshooting (ASTNA Patient Transport: Principles and Practice):
S – Sedation, Sepsis
H – Hypertension
A – Arrhythmias
B – Bleeding
D – Dehydration
O – Overdrive (VAD is too fast)
R – Right heart failure
Guest
Allen Wolfe is currently the Senior Director of Clinical Education at Life Link III in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Prior to his role at Life Link III, he worked at Air Methods Corporation in Denver, Colorado as Director of Clinical Education for 1500 clinical employees at 160 helicopter bases. Allen has been a nurse for 36 years with 29 of those years in the transport of critical ill patients. He obtained his Master’s degree in Critical Care and is a Clinical Nurse Specialist.  Allen is one of the leading experts in the country in prehospital management of Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVADs). He has published multiple articles, research projects and is the co-editor of the Principle and Practice textbook, the industry biggest selling publication. In 2007, he received the Katz-Mason award by Air and Surface Transport Nurses Association (ASTNA), the Community Service award for his LVAD patient safety initiative, the Jordan award in 2009 for outstanding contribution to air medical journalism, the Barbara A. Hess award in 2010 for outstanding contribution to education and in 2017 he received the Marriott-Carlson Lifetime Achievement Award. He was the president of ASTNA (2014), sits on the Board of Directors for Certification for Emergency Nursing and Exam Construction Review Committee (ECRC) for the CFRN exam.
Emergent Reconnection of a Transected Left Ventricular Assist Device Driveline: https://www.jem-journal.com/article/S0736-4679(14)00790-2/fulltext
Gastrointestinal Bleeding Following LVAD Placement from Top to Bottom: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4875872/