As a paediatric cardiac heart transplant centre in the UK, the Berlin Heart (ventricular assisted device) is used as a bridge to heart transplantation due to the length of wait, for organ availability.

Currently the centre has supported 18 children. Six of which has been transitioned to the cardiac ward and beyond. Many challenges that have been faced by staff and families together, and the aim of this abstract is to show how the multidisciplinary team have met these challenges by empowering staff and parents.

The Aims
•Moving technology to the ward environment.
•Training Staff to meet the child’s needs on mechanical support.
•Empowering families to be key carers in their child’s physical, emotional and development needs.

Six children have been successfully transitioned to the ward floor, by ensuring that nursing staff, health care assistance's and parents are the key caregivers within the multidisciplinary team.

Nursing staff and health care assistants receive competency-based training and practical assessment. This has helped the nursing staff to increase their knowledge and skills to enable them to teach parents at a similar competency level.

By empowering families it has led to optimising their emotional and physical state prior to potential heart transplant. This has resulted in a shorter post heart transplant recovery periods and length of stay.

Reference:
•Seibel K., Berdat P., Boillat C., Wagner B., Zacharious Z., Kessler U., (2008), Hemostasis Management in Pediatric Mechanical Circulatory Support