Cath Lab Nurse Job Description
A catheter laboratory nurse is a key member of any cath lab team and is in high demand in hospitals and medical centers throughout the country. In a cath lab, these highly trained and skilled nurses work with doctors and technicians to perform cardiac catheterizations, angioplasties and valvuloplasties. Additionally, cath lab nurses assist doctors when implanting pacemakers and cardioverter-defibrillators and work closely with patients.
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Qualifications
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A cath lab nurse specializes the heart and the cardiovascular system. The catheter laboratory nurse is a registered nurses with advanced training and knowledge of cardiovascular system and the bodily processes of the heart. A cath lab nurse must have all required state credentials and specialized training, most likely gained in a hospital setting where she received on-the-job experience. Certification exams for cath nurses provide a valuable credential when they are seeking employment. Because a cath lab nurse works closely with patients and team members, it is essential that they have good interpersonal and communication skills.
Degrees
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A cath lab nurse is a fully-credentialed RN with specialized training. Catheter laboratory nurses specialize in diagnosis of heart disease. She can earn her RN with an associate degree from a two-year community or technical college or a bachelor's degree from a four-year college or university. Generally, cath lab nurses hold a bachelor's degree or graduate degrees. After graduating, the nurse must pass the credentialing examination in their state.
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Advanced Training
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Cath lab nursing requires advanced training and supervised experience. A survey of open cath lab nursing positions in a variety of online websites revealed that the majority required one-year experience in a critical care, an intensive car unit, a cath lab, cardiac intervention or operating room. Once a nurse is accepted into a cath lab nursing program, she will take classroom courses and gain practical experience working with a cath lab team. The amount of time required for training can vary from several weeks or months of intense instruction followed by several months working with the cath team.
Primary Duties
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A cath lab nurse performs a variety of duties and shoulders many responsibilities. A cath lab nurse's primary duties can be many and varied. It often entails caring for patients in a cardiac care unit, intensive care unit or a cardiac catheterization lab until they are discharged. In some cases, the cath lab nurse keeps patient records, updates charts or conducts assessments of their needs and prepares patients for medical procedures. In the cath lab itself, the cath nurse may scrub in on some procedures, working along side the doctors and technicians or run treatment equipment. Of course, a cath lab nurse also will conduct typical nursing duties such as monitoring vital signs or administering medication as instructed by a doctor. In times of crisis, the cath lab nurse may participate in life-saving actions such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation and defibrillation. Depending on the size of the medical facility, the cath lab nurse may be involved in as many as a dozen procedures in an eight-hour shift. If the cath lab team takes on-call status during certain assigned periods, it would not be unusual to be summoned at any time to perform emergency procedures.
Secondary Duties
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A cath nurse may have several secondary responsibilities beyond the cath lab. In addition to the cath lab specific responsibilities and normal nursing duties, a cath lab nurse may counsel patients, take part in cardiac research projects and teach other health care personnel about the cath lab and its operations.
Salaries for a cath lab nurse vary from city to city. A survey of salaries across the country range from a low in Honolulu, Hawaii, of $73,000 to a high in New York City of $119,000. Salaries in Tampa Bay, Florida and Dallas, Texas were at $87,000 while in Chicago, Illinois a cath lab nurse could expect $95,000 and in Los Angeles, California $94,000. Of course, salaries vary based on an individual cath lab nurse's background and experience and the demand within any specific market.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Scrub Nurse image by Mary Beth Granger from Fotolia.com female medical nurse with syringe 2 image by fotosergio from Fotolia.com nurse image by Peter Baxter from Fotolia.com nurse image by Vasiliy Koval from Fotolia.com operation nurse image by Andrey Rakhmatullin from Fotolia.com family doctors,dentists image by feisty from Fotolia.com
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Comments
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Several grammar errors and some inaccurate information.
