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Tue Jan 06 2009
  
 
 

 

Management of Electrical Power Failure

In the event of an electrical power failure to the heart-lung console, the following procedure should be adhered to:

  • Immediately obtain a hand crank and begin hand cranking the arterial pump in the correct direction. Whilst doing this, turn the pump on/off switch to the off position and the pump speed control to zero as, when power returns, the pump may start up again.
  • Ask an assistant to urgently obtain the emergency battery back up system which will power the heart-lung console for a limited period of time.
  • Ask the monitoring technician to assemble the battery-powered arterial and ECG monitoring.
  • If pressure readouts have disappeared from heart-lung console’s monitoring screens, obtain battery or analogue pressure display unit to monitor arterial line pressure.
  • If the patient is normothermic with the heart beating ascertain, in consultation with the surgeon, if it is possible to wean the patient from bypass by clamping the venous line and infusing volume to make the heart eject.
  • If not possible to wean the patient from bypass, then continue hand cranking until battery back up arrives. Once connected, only drive the arterial pump from the battery system so the battery will last longer. Hand crank suction pumps when necessary to clear the surgical field.
  • Send arterial blood sample to check the blood gas status.
  • It may be useful to have battery torchlight available.