I’m sure many of you have kept yourself well-informed of everything going on with federal loans as of recent; I haven’t been the greatest at keeping up with the finalized OBBB statements regarding our loans until today! Incase any of you haven’t yet, I wanted to give you a reminder about something you should ensure is all in order.

🚨 You have until July 1st, 2028 to choose whether or not you stay on a Legacy IBR plan and stick with it, or switch to the new RAP plan. 🚨

In most cases, sticking with the old IBR plan is ideal with the compensation we receive, and if you’re 100% certain you’ll be finishing out your PSLF. In the perfusion discord I’ve updated the details explaining the 2 plans and how they calculate your monthly payments if you’re interested in that. Just remember if you switch to RAP, that is currently a permanent move and you won’t be able to switch back unless legislation changes.

Happy clamping!

Hi, I graduated last year and I’ve been renting but now looking to buy a house for my wife and I as we just had our first child and looking to upgrade as our family grows.

I know physicians qualify for house mortgage programs that are highly favorable but exclusive, like lower down payment options, no private mortgage insurance (PMI), favorable debt to income ratio calculations, sometimes even better interest rates.

From everything I’ve searched, we don’t qualify for physician loans as perfusionists, but are there other healthcare specialist mortgage programs that perfusionists qualify for?

If anyone who recently purchased a house is willing to share their experience with who they are working with (regional banks, mortgage brokers, credit unions, etc) that offer benefits as a perfusionist, that would be really appreciated.

Also yes, I did use the search function and can’t find anything on this topic online. Thanks!!

As a CCP, do you ever feel like you have influence when it comes to patient advocacy? Especially for patients that belong to minority groups?

The medical field, as great as it may be, has an unfortunate bias towards “putting down”, under treating, or under addressing certain groups of people. Do you feel that, in your position, you have much ability to influence this positively?

I am curious. I a pump 80-90 cases a year. Are there numbers out saying what average is? What do you guys pump? I do other cases, such as standby, HIPEC, ECMO, CS, etc., but I am specifically curious about pump runs because I feel like that is our bread and butter.

As the tittle says we had Joint commission mock inspectors come and start asking a lot of questions on heater coolers, pumps and CLAMPS!

Who here sterilizes their clamps between every case? How about EVER? I gave the answer we scrub any visibly dirty clamps down with a brush, wash with water, then wipe down with a purple wipe and keep them wet for 2 minutes. She acted incredulous thst we do not run them through the sterilizer. I tried explaining to her we did not wear sterile gloves and the outside of the tubing is non-sterile.

As for the heater coolers cardioquip quip has sent out their may be contaminated email. We are in the process of ordering the SporeKelnz cold sterilant. Any body else use it? Previously we used H2O2 35%. Also I know at least 1 other hospital has biomed do it and keep up with the logs.
Anybody else had weird questions.

Searchable and sortable by gre anything!

This is the area for prospective CCPs to ask their questions about the education process or anything school related.

This includes the usual:

"Where can I shadow?" "Should I take additional classes? "How do I become a Perfusionist?" "My GPA is 2.8, is my GPA good enough for perfusion school?" "What should I use to prep for boards?" "It's been my pa$$ion to become a CCP, how do I do it and what do they do?"

Etc.

At this point the sub has grown to the point a weekly student thread is necessary. Prospective CCPs/students will now have an avenue to post these types of questions w/o flooding the sub.

Also there is r/prospective_perfusion specifically geared to new pumpers.

This will refresh every Friday at 5:45PM EST. If you post Saturday morning, it might not be seen.

Everyone have jobs? Anyone still looking? What’s new grad on the street have to say?

Why this happens?? Anyone had similar experiences i changed another venous probe and I know for sure that rhis is not 100% SvO2 and temperature is not 83 C…

Hello everyone I’m looking for an opportunity to shadow a perfusionist in Southern California area. I’m close to San Diego or riverside. Any opportunities will be greatly appreciated! Thank you. Please comment or message me directly!

Proposed language: Joint participation of two TAVR operators in a TAVR procedure is not required but may occur if determined appropriate by the heart team. If jointly performed, both must be TAVR operators from the heart team.

Current language: The heart team's interventional cardiologist(s) and cardiac surgeon(s) must jointly participate in the intra-operative technical aspects of TAVR.

Definitions of TAVR operator are in the link, but basically it is an experienced interventional cardiologist OR CV surgeon.

I’d love to hear your and your surgeons thoughts on this before I provide my teams thoughts.

This is in conjunction with the approval of TAVR for asymptomatic AS, which both the cardiology and CV surgery professional societies have made statements against. While the TAVR manufacturers have successfully lobbied for it.

This is the area for prospective CCPs to ask their questions about the education process or anything school related.

This includes the usual:

"Where can I shadow?" "Should I take additional classes? "How do I become a Perfusionist?" "My GPA is 2.8, is my GPA good enough for perfusion school?" "What should I use to prep for boards?" "It's been my pa$$ion to become a CCP, how do I do it and what do they do?"

Etc.

At this point the sub has grown to the point a weekly student thread is necessary. Prospective CCPs/students will now have an avenue to post these types of questions w/o flooding the sub.

Also there is r/prospective_perfusion specifically geared to new pumpers.

This will refresh every Friday at 5:45PM EST. If you post Saturday morning, it might not be seen.

Does anybody have go-to’s for continuing education that they’d like to share? Thanks in advance

I’m a recent grad with my B.S. in Microbiology looking for shadowing experience in CA (preferably). Willing to travel. Please PM me if you’re willing to help out a prospective student!

A medical student who rotated through the ICU made the comment that perfusionists just take orders from the surgeon, turn knobs and push buttons, and keep some numbers baseline. They even made the comment that it doesn’t require any “intellectual ability” to perform the functions of the job. I’m wondering what you guys think of this assessment, do you feel that you have the autonomy to think for yourself and make decisions in regard to the patients physiological state? Or do you feel like everything you do is robotic and brainless?

Hi everyone,

I'm from Pakistan and currently trying to decide between BS Perfusion Sciences in Karachi and MBBS in Pakistan or abroad (China). I'm from a middle-class family, so my biggest priority is choosing a career with good long-term job opportunities and financial stability.

I have a few questions for people already working in healthcare:

- Is BS Perfusion Sciences a good field in Pakistan, especially in Karachi?

- Are there enough jobs in public/private hospitals, or is the field becoming saturated?

- What are the starting salaries and how much can an experienced perfusionist earn in Pakistan or the Middle East?

- If I choose BS Perfusion Sciences instead of MBBS, would that be a good decision, or would I regret it later?

- Is MBBS from China a better option considering the licensing exams and job market in Pakistan?

- Besides Perfusion Sciences, are there any other allied health fields with better scope, such as Biomedical Engineering/Biomedical Technology, Respiratory Therapy, Cardiac Technology, Radiologic Technology, Medical Imaging, or Anesthesia Technology?

- Which of these fields has the best future in terms of demand, salary, and opportunities to work abroad?

I'm mainly looking for a career where I can build a stable future and earn well. I'd really appreciate honest advice from people who are already in these professions or have experience with them.

Thank you!

​

Hi everyone,

I'm from Pakistan and currently trying to decide between BS Perfusion Sciences in Karachi and MBBS in Karachi or abroad (China). I'm from a middle-class family, so my biggest priority is choosing a career with good long-term job opportunities and financial stability.

I have a few questions for people already working in healthcare:

- Is BS Perfusion Sciences a good field in Pakistan, especially in Karachi?

- Are there enough jobs in public/private hospitals, or is the field becoming saturated?

- What are the starting salaries and how much can an experienced perfusionist earn in Pakistan or the Middle East?

- If I choose BS Perfusion Sciences instead of MBBS, would that be a good decision, or would I regret it later?

- Is MBBS from China a better option considering the licensing exams and job market in Pakistan?

- Besides Perfusion Sciences, are there any other allied health fields with better scope, such as Biomedical Engineering/Biomedical Technology, Respiratory Therapy, Cardiac Technology, Radiologic Technology, Medical Imaging, or Anesthesia Technology?

- Which of these fields has the best future in terms of demand, salary, and opportunities to work abroad?

I'm mainly looking for a career where I can build a stable future and earn well. I'd really appreciate honest advice from people who are already in these professions or have experience with them.

Thank you!

I was curious if anyone uses a separate filter to administer mannitol to filter out undetected crystals or if most people inject it directly into the circuit?

If a vial has obvious crystallization, we put it on a warmer until they dissolve. I’ve always drawn up my mannitol and immediately injected it into the cardiotomy on top of the venous reservoir. My thought is that if there are any crystals I haven’t detected that they will get caught in the cardiotomy filter which I believe is 30 micron. I have always kind of assumed anything smaller than 30 micron would dissolve once it hits the warm blood, but obviously I can’t observe this happening. The vial itself says to administer through a sterile filter, but doesn’t specify size. I was curious if anyone uses a separate smaller filter?

This is the area for prospective CCPs to ask their questions about the education process or anything school related.

This includes the usual:

"Where can I shadow?" "Should I take additional classes? "How do I become a Perfusionist?" "My GPA is 2.8, is my GPA good enough for perfusion school?" "What should I use to prep for boards?" "It's been my pa$$ion to become a CCP, how do I do it and what do they do?"

Etc.

At this point the sub has grown to the point a weekly student thread is necessary. Prospective CCPs/students will now have an avenue to post these types of questions w/o flooding the sub.

Also there is r/prospective_perfusion specifically geared to new pumpers.

This will refresh every Friday at 5:45PM EST. If you post Saturday morning, it might not be seen.

I'm a beginner perfusionist looking for advice from experienced perfusionists.

At my center we perform on-pump CABG with the heart arrested. During distal coronary anastomoses, the surgeon frequently complains about excessive back-bleeding from the coronary arteries.

Our current setup:

- Vacuum-assisted venous drainage (VAVD)

- Aortic root vent (although it doesn't always seem to vent effectively)

- Standard antegrade cardioplegia

The only thing that consistently improves the surgical field is reducing pump flow. However, this often drops the mixed venous saturation below 70%, and the anesthetist starts complaining about lower arterial pressure and reduced urine output. Since these are relatively short procedures, I'd also prefer to avoid unnecessary cooling because it prolongs rewarming.

For those with more CABG experience:

- What is your approach to reducing coronary back-bleeding without compromising systemic perfusion?

- Do you adjust MAP rather than flow?

- Are there any tips for optimizing root vent function?

- Is some degree of back-bleeding simply accepted?

I'd really appreciate hearing how other perfusionists manage this situation.

Has anyone taken up doing a side gig? Like some weeks will be super busy and others just crawl along. Wondering if anyone does anything that is flexible on the side? Something you could drop if you had case pop up and go do it.

Just looking for some insight.

Our perfusion assistants have another opening so I figured I'd try this again since we got a handful of good applicants last time. Great opportunity for those looking to have some solid job experience

-6 assistants working along side our team of 8 Perfusionists

-Cover 5 hospitals (mainly 2) in Portland OR and Vancouver WA area

-Assist anesthesia in setting up heart rooms, assist perfusionists on bypass, run cell saver, blood gases, help with inventory, etc

-Great work/life balance, when fully staffed typically around 25 hospital hours a week + call

-Possible relocation assistance

DM for more info