CIR CIR Quality Improvement & Patient Safety 2

Question 1

Contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) is defined by a rise in serum creatinine of:

Accepted Answer

≥ 0.3 mg/dL or ≥ 50% increase within 48–72 hours of contrast exposure

Answer

CI-AKI is defined as a serum creatinine rise of ≥ 0.3 mg/dL absolute or ≥ 50% relative increase within 48–72 hours after intravascular contrast administration.

Question 2

Which intervention is most evidence-supported for reducing CI-AKI in high-risk cath lab patients?

Accepted Answer

Intravenous isotonic saline hydration before and after the procedure

Answer

Adequate intravenous hydration with isotonic saline before and after contrast exposure remains the most consistently evidence-supported strategy for reducing CI-AKI risk.

Question 3

A cath lab program seeking ACC accreditation must demonstrate compliance with quality metrics tracked in which national registry?

Accepted Answer

The ACC NCDR CathPCI Registry

Answer

The ACC NCDR CathPCI Registry collects standardized procedural, outcome, and quality data from participating cath labs and is the foundation for ACC Cath Lab Accreditation benchmarking.

Question 4

Which practice best prevents wrong-patient contrast injections in a busy cath lab setting?

Accepted Answer

Two-identifier patient verification at every major step of care

Answer

The Joint Commission requires two independent patient identifiers (name plus date of birth or MRN) to be verified at each critical care transition to prevent patient misidentification errors.

Question 5

Skin peak dose (Pk) during fluoroscopically-guided cardiac procedures is important to monitor because:

Accepted Answer

Doses exceeding 2 Gy may cause deterministic radiation skin injuries

Answer

Deterministic skin effects (erythema, moist desquamation, necrosis) can occur at peak skin doses exceeding ~2 Gy, making intra-procedural monitoring essential for complex or prolonged fluoroscopic procedures.

CIR - Cardiac Interventional Radiology Practice Test

CIR - Cardiac Interventional Radiology Practice Test

CIR CIR Quality Improvement & Patient Safety 2