– Dr. Mohan Kumar HN –
There have been various instances when the treatment and care provided to the patient along with the doctors’ expertise have paved the way for the patient’s further course of life, hence highlighting how it is important that the team treating the patient is well-informed and have adequate knowledge and experience to help the patient recover well in cardiac surgeries especially due to the complications these surgeries involve.
Ensuring good cardiac surgery is the result of teamwork which starts from a good diagnosis. It is important to know that while one reaches out to a hospital in case of a cardiac treatment they keep in mind various factors and be sure that they can rely on the hospital. This is crucial because a cardiac surgery is not just about a good heart surgeon but the entire team that is involved. Below are some factors which a hospital must fulfill to assure proper cardiac surgery and recovery of a patient:
The work initiates with a good diagnosis, so the hospital must have good clinicians who can diagnose the clinical conditions like coronary artery disease, vascular abnormalities, congenital abnormalities at the right time so that the patient reaches the surgeon on time.
As diagnosis is a crucial step in deciding the surgery or the further treatment required and in understanding the complexity of the problem, the quality, and presence of diagnostic tools like an electrocardiogram (ECG), MRI or CT scan machines, etc. become of utmost important to gather the correct information. So, does the hospital have the right instrumentation is an essential and crucial question that must be addressed.
The next important factor in these surgeries is the expertise that the clinicians possess to carry the procedures with grand old ways or the newer techniques. While every technique has a different way, so does every surgery and hence the appropriate knowledge becomes necessary about all the procedures and instruments or machines.
Further in line is the care that the patients will be provided. There must be good nurses who have been trained well for particular care that is involved with respective cardiac surgeries and based on the age as well.
An anesthetist is an equally important part of the team. There are specially trained cardiac anesthetists who must check-in before, while and after the surgery about how the heart is beating and constantly keep a tab on what is happening to the heart.
Having a thorough understanding of the complications that can accompany cardiac surgery is also very important. For instance, the patient can suffer from a brain stroke which is a rare complication with heart surgery and so requires a good neurological team available. Hence it is critical to have specialists who are experienced and skilled to cover problems ranging from neurological or intestinal or kidney-related, etc.
A team to know the post-care necessities of the patient who has gone through a particular surgery is also a very important part to ensure complete recovery of the patient.
Hospitals like Columbia Asia have an entire spectrum of cardiac sciences that caters to everyone from newborn to an adult as they understand that successfully cardiac surgery can be performed only with a good support team who understands the procedures as well the complications that could arise.
All of this involves the ability of the entire team to explore many complex procedures smoothly and hence an overall team that has the adequate knowledge and is well trained and experienced is a must while selecting a cardiac hospital.
________________
About the Author
Dr. Mohan Kumar HN
Author & Consultant
Dr. Mohan Kumar HN, Consultant – Interventional Cardiologist, Columbia Asia Hospital Sarjapur Road
Disclaimer : The views expressed by the author in this feature are entirely her / his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of INVC NEWS.
