THE SCENARIO

You’re on call when you receive a notification from the transfer center about a patient with a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm—you accept. They are 10 minutes out by helicopter. As you throw on your scrubs and grab the car keys, you call your local aortic endograft representative. You arrive at the hospital just as the chopper lands. Luckily, your rep lives nearby and meets you.

You quickly hand them the imaging disk from the outside hospital. While you go to meet the patient—who has a systolic pressure of 70 mm Hg and a heart rate of 130 bpm—you help wheel them directly to the operating room (OR). You immediately start giving directions to the anesthesia team about permissive hypotension and the game plan, the OR techs on what to pull, and the nurses on how to start prepping. Meanwhile, your rep is quickly uploading the imaging, generating the centerline, and taking diameter and length measurements. Within 10 minutes of arrival, you are percutaneously accessing the femoral arteries with an occlusion balloon in hand. Thanks to your team, including your rep, you have your game plan ready! This scenario, while not typical, demonstrates the crucial role of industry involvement in patient care. I can guarantee that almost every vascular surgeon remembers a similar case.

YOUR INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVE AS PART OF THE TEAM

Your representative can be your ally, a valuable member of your patient care team, and plays an essential role in training and education.

On-Hand Experience and Assistance

Although the scenario described above is exceptional, it highlights the essential role of industry support. Whether dealing with an unfamiliar device, new staff, after-hours challenges, or simply being in the middle of a complex case, industry representatives can provide valuable assistance. They possess in-depth knowledge of their products, which can greatly aid your staff in setup, preparation, and troubleshooting.

Many representatives have prior experience working in catheterization labs or OR settings, enabling them to be helpful in various situations. Recall that last multivessel chronic limb-threatening ischemia slug of a case? Four hours in, your brain was fried, and your go-to wire and catheter combinations just weren’t cutting it? As I suspect is the case with most physicians, I am not one turn away from all options in a tough case when nothing I’ve tried is working. Your industry reps often know the inventory on hand and may have insights from working with multiple physicians across specialties, which can be beneficial in unique cases. Remember, medicine is a team sport!

Inventory and Options

The coveted “trunk stock”: Industry reps have a diverse inventory that allows you to use devices not typically stocked in your lab. In an ideal world, every product would be readily available, but that’s rarely the case in any lab I’ve worked in. Representatives will know the available inventory and what to bring that may not be already available.

Training and Physician Education

Reps provide support and training opportunities for your staff, allowing them to gain hands-on experience outside of live cases.

Industry also excels in providing educational materials, and industry reps are chock full of educational resources at your disposal. A quick search for your device company of choice will reveal a website full of resources, including videos, case examples, in-depth product details, and more. Many companies sponsor free webinars, live cases, and in-person events, offering opportunities to learn about new devices and engage with expert users—often at no cost to you. If you have students or trainees, industry representatives offer excellent opportunities, from conference travel scholarships to industry-sponsored courses. These are great chances for learning in our ever-evolving field!

Patient Education

Finally, the most important aspect—the patient! Have you ever described a procedure to a patient? Hopefully, the answer is yes. Have you used a video on YouTube to illustrate your explanation? Industry stands out in this area, providing resources that help you educate patients without having to reinvent the wheel. From patient-facing websites to brochures to have on hand in your clinic, to patient-focused videos on procedures, these resources are at your fingertips, allowing for the best possible patient-centered education. So, take advantage of them!

SUMMARY

Industry representatives play a vital role in supporting interventionalists and enhancing patient care. From providing real-time technical assistance during high-stakes emergencies to offering device expertise, inventory solutions, and hands-on training, reps serve as valuable extensions of the clinical team. By embracing industry partnerships, clinicians can expand their capabilities, stay current with evolving technologies, and ultimately deliver better, more efficient, and more informed care to their patients.

Meryl S. Logan, MD
Assistant Professor of Surgery
Division of Vascular Surgery
Department of Surgery and Perioperative Care
Dell Medical School | The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas
Disclosures: Consultant to Vascular Technologies Inc. and Shockwave.