Considerations in trauma

Follow your standard trauma care and ATLS protocol as for a non VAD patient. 

Remember you cannot rely on feeling a pulse, or measuring a BP or oxygen saturation trace You need to go back to your basic patient assessment.

Inform your VAD centre and your Cardiac transplant surgeon at your local centre as soon as possible. 

Aim for early invasive BP monitoring via an A-line this will give you an accurate MAP and allow you to monitor the trend. 

Order specific xrays to assess for pump position and driveline integrity (AP chest xray and a targeted driveline xray). 

Use CT and CT angiography as normal for a non-VAD patient

Learning bite

You cannot MRI these patients