SCAI Cath Lab Leadership Boot Camp: Where Teams Tackle Quality Together

SCAI's Cath Lab Leadership Boot Camp is an essential educational experience that moves beyond science to the practical issues that cath lab teams face as they strive to improve their practice and deliver optimal patient care.

Boot Camp will be held the mornings of Wednesday, May 28, and Thursday, May 29, during the SCAI 2014 Scientific Sessions at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, NV. The program was developed by SCAI's Education and Quality Improvement Committees to address the interests of a diverse audience, including cath lab directors and cath lab managers as well as others who comprise the cath lab team.

"We're recommending Boot Camp for all of our clients, whether they are already accredited, just getting started, or somewhere in between, because the program will include physicians and non-physicians both on the faculty and in the audience," said Mary Heisler, RN, executive director of Accreditation for Cardiovascular Excellence (ACE). "In addition to presentations that focus on how to make programs work optimally, the program will include open-mike discussion. I anticipate a lot of pearls of wisdom from speakers and attendees alike." 

When boots initially hit the ground on Day 1, the focus will be on the roles of cath lab leaders and on preparing teams to face the challenges that inevitably arise. Discussion will focus on conflict resolution, granting and rescinding cath lab privileges, reporting outcomes to clinical databases, and managing relationships with vendors.

"I think everyone on the cath lab team needs to attend these sessions," said Ms. Heisler. "And I'm especially interested in the conversation that will come out of Dr. Peter Duffy's presentation on defining quality. Across all of our clients, we have seen that an unexpected benefit of accreditation tends to be that the whole team gets really focused on quality. I predict this topic is going to result in knowledge sharing and networking that extends well beyond the days of the meeting."

On Thursday morning, when attendees come back for the second installment of Boot Camp, they'll focus on issues that physicians often face as cath lab directors, including how to deal with outliers and maintaining a productive cath lab. Attendees will address building a team, launching a research program and managing budgets in the current era of cost containment.

Boot Camp will offer up to 6 CME credit hours for both days, 4 credit hours for attending the Wednesday program and 2 credit hours for Thursday.