ICU Red Team: Piedmont Hospital heart transplant patients are in good hands

Atlanta Journal Constitution | Laura Raines


Photo: Leita Cowart. Nemia Ruffes is a nurse with Piedmont Atlanta Hospital’s ICU Red Team. The hospital gives heart pillows to patients for comfort and to show them what’s happening in their hearts. More Info

On Aug. 16, 2012, Dr. David Dean performed the first successful heart transplant at Piedmont Atlanta Hospital. It was a milestone for Piedmont’s heart surgery program and made the institution a tertiary cardiac care provider.

While it takes a skilled surgeon to perform the delicate and risky heart transplant, it also requires a staff of highly skilled and committed nurses to bring a patient to recovery. Piedmont’s ICU Red Team is such a staff.

When heart transplant patients are rolled out of the operating room, Nemia Ruffes wants to be there. Along with fellow ICU Red Team nurses, her job is to navigate patients through a complex postsurgical transition.

“They could be hooked up to five or six machines: balloon pumps, a coronary artery catheter and possibly an LVAD [left ventricular assist device],” said Ruffes, RN, BSN, CCRN. “Their kidneys could need help with continuous dialysis and there will be a ventilator and possibly an ECMO [extracorporeal membrane oxygenation] device for respiration. They could be on as many as 10 to 15 drips of continuous IV medication â€" all at the same time.”

As a member of the ICU Red Team, Ruffes specializes in caring for patients who have had open heart surgery or heart transplants. What might be daunting to others is exciting for Ruffes, who has worked in cardiovascular intensive care units for 25 years.
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