Successful use of a competency step exam in a perfusion education program.

The perfusion education program at The Ohio State University uses a step exam to rank students and identify incompetent students in regard to the program learning objectives. The step exam determines student progress from the didactic to the clinical phase. Each student must pass the competency step exam to gain entry to the clinical rotations.

Inflammatory mediator removal by zero-balance ultrafiltration during cardiopulmonary bypass.

The abnormal conditions to which blood is subjected during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) trigger an activation of the inflammatory response in all patients to varying degrees. Both complement activation and the release of cytokines characterize this response. Most inflammatory mediators have a molecular weight that is below the membrane pore size of commonly used ultrafilters, which should allow them to be freely filtered.