Guide · checked October 2026
What goes in a cath lab procedure log
A cath lab procedure log is the timed record of a case: milestones, haemodynamics, medications, devices, imaging and radiation, contrast and dictated events, each from its source system, which should be validated by the team before it feeds the procedure note and the audit return.
What it records
- Milestones: patient in room, access, start and end of procedure, closure.
- Haemodynamic readings from the physiology system.
- Medications with dose, route and time.
- Devices: sheaths, catheters, wires, balloons, stents and closure devices, ideally scanned with lot and expiry.
- Radiation: dose-area product and fluoroscopy time, from the x-ray system's dose report or the console.
- Contrast volume, from the injector and the nursing record.
- Dictated events and complications.
Why validation matters
Each item usually arrives from a different system: the physiology system, PACS dose reports, inventory scanning and the EPR. They disagree more often than people expect. The log is only useful as a source for the note, the national audit and dose monitoring if someone has checked it. BCIS notes that national audit data are entered by each centre and that BCIS and NICOR cannot validate them, so validation has to happen locally.
For radiation, IR(ME)R requires procedures for recording factors relevant to patient dose, and DHSC's guidance says stored exposure data should allow a later dose estimate. A log that captures the dose report directly supports both.
Good practice
Validate events as the case runs rather than at the end, flag any value where two sources disagree, and record who confirmed it. Keep live haemodynamics for display, not as the documented value, unless your policy says otherwise.
What a log is not
- Not the procedure note: it is the evidence the note is written from.
- Not automatically correct because it came from a machine.
- Not a substitute for the operator's own findings.
Where Cath Copilot fits
Cath Copilot shows a live in-room timeline with filters for milestones, haemodynamics, medication, devices, imaging and radiation, contrast and dictation, and a validate action for each event. Live haemodynamics from IEEE 11073 SDC monitors are display-only. Reconciliation tabs for devices, contrast, radiation and medications show where two sources disagree, and every action lands in a hash-chained audit log.
Cath Copilot is a prototype on synthetic data only. It is not a medical device and is not for clinical use.
Questions
Where does radiation dose in the log come from?
Usually the x-ray system's dose report (RDSR) in PACS or the value entered from the console. Recording both lets you check one against the other.
Why validate events during the case?
Errors are easiest to fix while the team is still in the room, and validated events can feed the note and audit return directly.
Sources
Official pages, checked October 2026. Guidance changes, so check the current version before you rely on it.
General information for healthcare managers and clinical teams, checked October 2026. It is not legal, regulatory or clinical advice; follow the current official guidance and your organisation's own policies. No patient data is used in these examples. Cath Copilot is a prototype running on synthetic data only. It is not a medical device and is not for clinical use. It recommends, drafts, and routes; it never diagnoses, orders, or decides. A clinical safety and information-governance process precedes any use with real patient data.