Advanced Life Support Program for Cardiac Surgery is a GAMECHANGER!

This announcement has been sent out by Dr. Cathy Jennings - without her, and her efforts, this could not have been accomplished.  Thank you Cathy and Carilion Clinic CSU-ALS Task Force!  You are making positive changes in our patients lives - we see you!

We are happy to announce that Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital Cardiovascular Institute Surgery (CVI Surgery) has been awarded designation as a Center of Excellence for Cardiac Surgical Unit-Advanced Life Support by CSU-ALS North America.

Carilion achieved CSU-ALS Accredited Center designation in 2019 and then embarked on the journey to complete the significant steps required to become a Center of Excellence (COE).

To achieve the COE designation, our Trainers (three cardiothoracic surgery Advanced Care Providers and two Cardiac Surgery Intensive Care Unit RNs) first completed a Train the Trainer course and were proctored twice through an intense process by CSU-ALS North America faculty.  We began offering the CSU-ALS course at Carilion in May 2019 with the support of the Carilion Life Support Training Center and the Carilion Center for Simulation, Research, and Patient Safety.  We then established monthly reviews of CSU-ALS Resuscitation techniques in a Code Blue Drill format for education review and reinforcement in conjunction with ACLS Code Blue Drills in February 2020. To date, more than 150 ICU and PCU nurses, clinical administrators, respiratory therapists, and others have successfully achieved CSU-ALS certification in Carilion’s classes.

In September 2020, Carilion’s trainers were again evaluated by CSU-ALS North America faculty while teaching a full eight-hour course. With 90% of our CSICU staff CSU-ALS trained and after our recent successful trainer audit, Carilion was awarded the COE designation. With this achievement, Carilion’s trainers now have the opportunity to train providers outside of Carilion at the national level.

Of note, Carilion is only the second to be designated as a CSU-ALS Center of Excellence in Virginia (the University of Virginia achieved COE designation in June).  There are two other Accredited Centers in Virginia:  Sentara Virginia Beach Hospital and Sentara Norfolk General (on the path to be a COE but has not achieved the designation to date).

Please congratulate our trainer team:  Dr. Charles Bullins, Anil Ganga, Stephen Holman, Lindsay Shelton, and Tennille Smelcer. This achievement would not have been possible without the support of  leaders who helped us succeed, Dr. Mike Abbott and Mr. Paul Hudgins. Thank you to all!