Surgical intervention during extracorporeal life support

1. Because the patient often is totally dependent on the ECLS circuit and is heparinized, an understanding of ECLS greatly improves the nurse's ability to interact with the ECLS specialist and surgeon. 2. The surgical nurse should instruct the ECLS specialist in the proper techniques for various procedures. Similarly, the surgical nurse should become familiar with the working of the ECLS circuit and the special terminology used by the ECLS team. 3. The ability to communicate and identify the priority of steps of intervention--not only for the specialist, but also for the surgical nurse--gives the surgeon the tools to resolve the problem quickly and efficiently.