The Sutter Heart & Vascular Institute knows that equally important to a successful procedure is high quality recovery care. That is why we have nursing units that are qualified to handle the special needs that come with each procedure. Patients who have undergone a heart transplant have very different needs from those who have an angioplasty. The nursing staff in our Telemetry Unit, ICU, Cardiac ICU and Cardiovascular Intervention Unit (CVIU) have ongoing education to keep up-to-date with the constantly changing procedures and care practices in cardiology and cardiovascular care. In fact, the Sutter Heart & Vascular Institute has 4 clinical educators and our nursing staff receives free continuing education credits for pursuing skills education. We also have 3 clinical nurse specialists who consult on difficult patients and research current best practices.

In addition, Sutter offers the most competitive wage and benefit package in the area to attract the highest quality nursing professionals in northern California. Our nurse to patient ratio is the best in the area with only three patients to one nurse in the CVIU and less than 2 patients to a nurse in the Intensive Care Units. All of Sutter’s cardiovascular nurses are certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), have ECG interpretation skills and are trained to recognize abnormal heart rhythms.

Intensive Care Unit (ICU)
This 16 bed ICU is dedicated to patients having open heart surgery or heart transplantation. This ICU can provide a 1 to 1 nurse to patient ratio during the most critical part of your stay.

Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU)
This 16 bed unit is home to patients suffering major heart attacks, those awaiting heart transplantation and a variety of patients with serious medical problems requiring intensive care.

Cardiovascular Interventional Unit (CVIU)
This 11 bed unit is specialized in caring for patients who have had procedures that require vascular access. The nurses on this unit take care of patients who have had a cardiovascular intervention, such as angioplasty or stent placement. Each nurse is an expert in post procedure care and discharge education.

Cardiovascualr Operating Room (CVOR) Unit
The 14 dedicated CVOR nurses are specially trained to work alongside the cardiovascular surgeons doing the most advanced procedures available.

Visit our surgery page.

Telemetry Unit
This 55 bed unit monitors patients anywhere in the unit through the use of an ambulatory (walking) monitoring device. This mobile heart monitor allows them to leave their room for a walk, which is beneficial to their recovery. The telemetry unit receives ER admissions for angina and heart attack as well as post-operative patients from the ICU, CICU and CVIU. Because such a wide variety of patients come through the telemetry unit the nurses are trained to handle a wide range of patient needs including taking care of patients post:

• Open heart surgery
• Angioplasty
• Pulmonary procedures
• Transplants

Visit our Pediatric ICU/Pediatrics/Special Care Nursery.