Tom F. Gutchewsky, ACNP, RN, CCRN, is certified as an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and currently practices as an Advanced Practice Nurse in Cardiac Surgery working outside of Chicago with a cardiac surgery group that performs over 2000 procedures annually, including left ventricular assist devices and heart transplantation. He has over 20 years of bedside experience, having worked in the Cardiac ICU, the Surgical ICU, and as the APN for Cardiac Surgery. Tom has been a nurse practitioner for over 18 years, primarily with open heart surgery, also assisting in the operating room and has worked with Cardiology, EP, and interventional radiology. He precepts nurse practitioner students in the open heart ICU and has previously taught undergraduate nursing students.

Sean G. Smith, RN, BSN, NREMT -P, C-NPT, CCRN, CMC, CEN, CFRN, FP-C, CPEN, has experience in both emergency care and critical care. He has written neo-natal/pediatric pharmacology CE exams for the American Association of Critical Care Nurses, as well as writing for Mosby clinical updates. He has practiced and taught critical/emergency care and pre-hospital emergency medical services for over 20 years. Career highlights include research in molecular endocrinology, serving in the US Navy, a wide variety of ICUs, flight nursing, and medical missions, as well as offering medical support to NASA . Sean lectures at the national level and has extensive text review/exam writing/contributing author credits. He holds multiple advanced specialty certifications in critical care, emergency, and flight nursing, as well as cardiac medicine, and neonatal/pediatric critical care transport.