A Career in Cardiology

Oct 9, 2017

1. Specialization tasks
2. Pathway
3. Common job scopes
4. Common terms
5. Career opportunities

Cardiology

Cardiology is a branch of medicine dealing with disorders of the heart as well as parts of the circulatory system the field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease and electrophysiology. Physicians who specialize in cardiac surgery are called cardiothoracic surgeons or cardiac surgeons. The supporting role of the surgeons and physicians are cardiology nurses.

Although the cardiovascular system is inextricably linked to blood, cardiology is relatively unconcerned with hematology and its diseases. Some obvious exceptions that affect the function of the heart would be blood tests, decreased oxygen carrying capacity, and coagulopathies.

Coagulopathies

source: Resus.me

Specialization Tasks

All cardiologists study the disorders of the heart and all cardiology nurses are trained to take care of either adult or children conditions. This is due to differing aspects of training for adult and paediatric physiology. Surgical aspects are not included in cardiology and are in the domain of cardiothoracic surgery.

For example, coronary artery bypass surgery and cardiopulmonary bypass are both surgical procedures performed by surgeons, and not cardiologists. As a nurse, your task will be that of assisting the cardiologists in this matter. A properly-trained cardiology nurse would have the necessary critical thinking in order to draw conclusions to make meaningful impact of treatment.

Common tasks in the wards that you might have to do include the insertion of stents, pacemakers, and valves.

Pathway

Cardiology OT

source: verywell

Cardiology is a specialty of internal medicine. To be a cardiology nurse, a three-year work experience followed by a post-basic or relevant course is required. It is possible to sub-specialize in Malaysia. Recognized sub-specialties in cardiology for Malaysia are cardiac electrophysiology, echocardiography, interventional cardiology, and nuclear cardiology.

Currently there is insufficient data for Malaysia, for salary, but it is guaranteed to be higher or on par with other similar nursing specialists.

Common job scopes

Cardiology is a vast field. Not only does it involve the heart and its systems, it also involves supporting systems such as haematology and its diseases. It is important to know and train for this when pursuing this specialization.

Cardiac electrophysiology

An example of echocardiography

An example of echocardiography

This is the science of elucidating, diagnosing, and treating the electrical activities of the heart. The term is usually used to desccribe studies of such phenomena by invasive catheter recording of spontaneous activity as well as of cardiac responses to programmed electrical stimulations. These studies are performed to assess complex arrythmias, relieve symptoms, evauate abnormal ECGs, assess risk of developing arrhythmias in the future, and to design treatment.

Cardiac examination

The cardiology nurse is able to carry out cardiac examinations of patients. It is performed as part of a physical examination, or when a patient presents with chest pain suggestive of a cardiovascular pathology. It would typically be modified depending on the indication and integrated with other examinations especially the respiratory examination. Like all medical examinations, the cardiac examination follows the standard structure of inspection, palpation, and auscultation.

Paediatric cardiology

Paediatric cardiology

source

Paediatric cardiology is a specialty of paediatrics. To be a paediatric cardiology nurse, one must complete at least three years of registered working experience and pass all the required courses. Adult cardiology certifications are not valid due to differences in physiology in children.

Common complications that you will see as a nurse practicing paediatric cardiology are paediatric hypertension, paediatric hyperlipidemia, heart palpitations and arryhthmias.

Diagnostic tests

Diagnostic tests in cardiology are the methods of identifying heart conditions associated with healthy vs. unhealthy pathology heart function. It is commonly started by obtaining a medical history, followed by auscultation. Blood tests soon precede after, and imaging can be done on a need-to-do basis.

Common terms

1. Tetralogy of Fallot

It is the most common congenital ehart disease arising in 1-3 cases per 1000 births. The cause of this defect is a ventricular septal defect and an overriding aorta. These two defects combined causes deoxygenated blood to bypass the lungs and going right back into the circulatory system. The modified Blalock-Taussig is used as a treatment for this condition.

2. Pulmonary atresia

This happens in 7-8 births per 100,000 and is characterized by the aorta brancing out of the right ventricle. It causes deoxygenated blood to bypass the lungs and enter the circulatory system. Fixing it can by done by a team of cardiologists and nurses by redirecting the aorta and fixing the right ventricle-pulmonary artery connection in surgeries.

3. Double Outlet Right Ventricle

Double outlet right ventricle is when both great arteries, the pulmonary artery and the aorta, are connected to the right ventricle. There is usually a ventricle in different particular places depending on the variations of DORV, typically 50% are subaortic. A VSD closure is the most common form of treatment for this condition.

Career opportunities

Search for high-paying cardiology nursing jobs on MIMS Career. Browse, save, and apply for nursing jobs, all in one-click. Take the opportunity for higher pay and better work locations. Our pages are all mobile-responsive, allowing you to take that leap for a better job whenever, wherever you are. All our job postings are heavily screened to prevent scams and mistrustful behavior.

Think About These 5 Things Before You Decide On A Specialization

5 Things Nurses Need To Know To Be Paid More

10 Ways Malaysian Nurses Can Increase Their Income

Other Articles

Gynaecology is the medical practice of dealing with the health of the female reproductive system and the breasts. Literally the term gynaecology means “the study of women.” The opposite of gynaecology is andrology, which deals in male-specific medical issues. Almost all modern gynaecologists are obstetricians : physicians who deal in the branch of medicine and surgery of childbirth and labor. These two fields overlap in many areas, therefore in many institutions Obstetrics and Gynaecology are lumped together as O&G. Gynaecology is concerned with the health of the female reproductive organs and the ability to reproduce. It also encompasses paediatric and adolescent problems to post-menopausal ages. History From ancient Egypt circa 1800 BC, the Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus is the oldest known medical text of any kind. It writes about women’s complaints; gynaecological diseases, fertility, pregnancy, contraception, etc. In the 4th century BC Hippocrates wrote texts about gynaecological diseases that were common afflictions to Greek women at the time. J Marion Sims is widely considered to be the father of gynaecology. He operated during the 19th century at Jefferson Medical College, New York. However the title is now being scrutinized due to his unethical development of his surgical techniques. He operated a lot on slaves, many of whom were not given anaesthesia. Training Post-basic courses on midwifery, gynaecology, and obstetrics are considered to be part of gynaecological training. If desired, a nurse can opt to pursue a Masters in order to carry out research work in the field, and proceed to doctorate studies. Training is given out to encourage the study and advancement of the practice of gynaecology. It is also done by the publication of clinical guidelines and reports on aspects of the specialty and service provision. Gynaecology is a vast field. Nurses who work in this area have sub-specialties in high-risk obstetrics, fertility care, or minimal access surgery. The job most deals with healthy women, where unexpected challenges can present themselves on a daily basis. Work includes a large number of hands-on procedures, and training reflects that. Common Cases Patients range from those who have chronic disorders which are not life threatening, to those who require immediate acute emergency treatment. Nurses in this field are often required to provide assistance during operative procedures. Some of the common procedures a gynaecological nurse with oversee include: dilation and curettage Oophorectomy Exploratory laparotomy Treatments for urinary incontinence Cervical excision procedures treatment of polyps surgery for cancers A major part of a gynaecology nurse is the delivery of infants. Their work includes: assist delivery using instruments (forceps or vacuum) C-sections Foetal health Career Opportunities Independent Nurse Consultant Educator Training programme director for gynaecology nursing Research in public and private sectors - Our Most Popular Articles Think About These 5 Things Before You Decide On A Specialization 5 Things Nurses Need To Know To Be Paid More 10 Ways Malaysian Nurses Can Increase Their Income

Career Highlight: Gynaecology Nursing

Gynaecology is the medical practice of dealing with the health of the female reproductive system and the breasts. Literally the term gynaecology means “the study of women.” The opposite of gynaecology is andrology, which deals in...

Read More
Photo by Rami Al-Zayat 1. Note-taking 2. Scheduling 3. Reading Smartphone as a work assistant Our phones have gone from blocky, awkward devices to sleek, thin machines. It is now 2017, and processing power in smartphones (even in budget ones) have overcome the performance of some computers just ten years ago. With the modern smartphone now more of a pocket computer than a communication device, several apps have been made to make work easier. These apps, when used with a bit of creativity and time, can help you stay on top of your goals, never miss an important piece of info, track everything that matters to you and increase mental focus. Read on to find out how you can transform your phone from a typical communications device to an indispensable work and life assistant. 1. Note-taking Text Take notes with your phone rather than on a piece of paper. Unlike paper, you won’t lose digital notes if you have them backed up to the cloud. Moreover, you can take hundreds of notes with you on your phone without needing to carry thick notebooks everywhere you go. Most note-taking apps are searchable, like a web browser. Retrieve your information quickly and easily, whenever you need it. On Android, the best note-taking app is Google Keep . Keep allows your to color-code your notes to your fancy. Add them to your home screen as a widget for quick access. You can still view your notes on any computer with an internet connection. Simply go over to the Google Keep site, log in with your Google account, and browse through your notes. source source On iOS, we recommend the default Notes app. It’s beautifully designed, clean, and robust. Write notes on the fly, and format your text in bold , italics , or underlined. Much like Google Keep, you can attach photos on to your notes. You can also organize them in folders, for easy retrieval. source Bonus tip : You can create a note with your voice! Activate Siri by long-pressing the home button, and say “ Make a note “. Siri will ask you what to write about, and it will write whatever you just said. Scan documents What if you had access to all the paper receipts, documents, letters, and notes; any time, anywhere? You can! Your smartphone has a camera. The best scanner is the scanner you always have with you! Simply point your phone towards a paper document and take a photo. Make sure you adjust the focus a bit so text is clear on your phone’s screen. Then, simply create a photo album in your phone’s photos gallery, label it SCANS and move the photos of your documents there. Evernote ( iOS , Android ) is a multi-platform note-taking app that has a really cool scanning function. When you scan documents with Evernote, the app will brighten the document, making it seem like it was really scanned using a proper scanner. In dark environments, the app will automatically activate your phone’s flash to brighten up the image. Even when taking scans of the document at an angle, Evernote will modify the image to make it seem like you took it straight down! source Evernote has OCR (Optical Character Recognition); meaning that words in the document scans are searchable in the app. It even works for handwriting! Other alternatives to Evernote include Scanbot , PDF Scanner + OCR Free , and Scanner Pro . Draw sketches Sometimes text just doesn’t cut it. What if you need to draw something? It happens a lot, especially in nursing and medical work. Both Google Keep and iOS notes have the ability to create drawings. Unlike pen and paper, you’ll never run out of ink! Android Police How to make a drawing in Notes iOS 2. Scheduling Calendar Schedule events or tasks that you can’t do today. Any calendar app works well; but we recommend Google Calendar ( iOS , Android ). It has natural language text-parsing, meaning you simply type your event into the app like how you’d say it. For example, typing: Midwifery refresher seminar 8pm Sunday at UMMC Will add a calendar entry Midwifery refresher seminar , dated on Sunday at 8PM, and location at UMMC. The app can take the information of the location of the event from Google Maps. So on that day, it notifies you what time you should leave to arrive on time! Macworld 3. Reading Books Why bring your whole bookshelf when you can just carry your phone with you? Many textbook publishers also offer ebook versions of their textbooks. With an ebook reader app, you can read books you’ve saved on your phone. Now you can refer your favorite 900-page physiology textbook anywhere without needing to break your back. The Kindle ( iOS , Android ) app allows you to buy ebooks from Amazon and you can read them anytime you like. Check out their selection of nursing textbooks that you can get cheaper than the physical copies. Even if you delete the ebooks off your phone, you can still re-download them from Kindle. Play Store 3. Task Management Todoist (iOS, Android) Putting tasks out of your head and into a system that you trust is one of the best ways to prevent information overload. This enables you to have less mental distractions as you only focus on the task you are currently doing, rather than having other future tasks nagging in your mind. Using task management apps can seem complicated, but it actually is not. The end goal is to spend less time doing the things you want to do, so that you have more time to do the things you want to do. Having a to-do list makes it easy for you to see what you have right now, and what actions are up next. Todoist is a great app for this. It’s available on all platforms: iOS, Android, Windows, and Chrome. Todoist Start by listing down tasks in your Inbox. As your task list grows, you might start to see some tasks are related to each other. Create projects in Todoist to group these tasks and sort them. Some tasks are more complicated than other tasks. You can break down these tasks into a series of sub-tasks, allowing you to focus on tackling one thing at a time in pursuit of a larger goal. Remember, to eat an elephant, you need to take one bite at a time. Todoist Also, just like Google Calendar, Todoist accepts natural language input; set tasks to recur daily, monthly, every two weeks, or even something complicated such as “ Every third Saturday of the month “. Todoist will understand you. See here for the complete guide. Todoist is free to use, but with a small subscription fee, premium features such as location-based reminders, file attachments, and tagging are unlocked. The modern smartphone is a great tool for self-improvement, organization, and productivity. In such a small device, you can read books, take notes, and stay on top of your work any time, any day. As nurses’ work become more and more complex, we need better tools to help us keep track of daily life. Hopefully you have gained insight into using this great tool, and help you take on challenges that will advance your career as a nurse. Head over to MIMS Career and discover our wide range of nurse jobs. All of our pages are mobile-responsive; browse jobs, sign up, and apply are all doable on your smartphone. Make your next career move, with MIMS Career . Our Most Popular Articles Think About These 5 Things Before You Decide On A Specialization 5 Things Nurses Need To Know To Be Paid More 10 Ways Malaysian Nurses Can Increase Their Income

You Should Be Using These Apps On Your Phone

Photo by Rami Al-Zayat 1. Note-taking 2. Scheduling 3. Reading Smartphone as a work assistant Our phones have gone from blocky, awkward devices to sleek, thin machines. It is now 2017, and processing power in...

Read More
A common question asked to academic counselors by prospective nursing students is: “So how’s the life of a nurse? What kind of hours to they work?” It depends. It really depends on your location, academic qualifications, experience, country of practice, working environment… Really, I could make a long list but then the article would be way too long. So our team at MIMS Career has sifted through the working hours of a lot of different types of nurses, so you can have an idea of what kind of career choices you’d have to make to go towards that kind of life. We’ve categorized it in five parts: a little, a bit, normal, a bit more, and a lot. A little (3-5 hours a day) Part-time nurse practitioners These nurses mostly work doing house calls, or are doing contract jobs with non-medical institutions like schools or companies. Their employers do not require their presence most of the time, so as little as 3-5 hours per work session is pretty common. Part-time nurse practitioners usually have another job other than their nursing one. Find out how to become a part-time nurse practitioner in our in-depth nursing career advancement guide HERE. A bit (5-8 hours a day) Locum nurses Locum nurses work part time shifts in clinics or hospitals or other medical-related institutions. They are not on the payroll of the institution they work with; as they are only meant to supplement the institution’s own workforce. On average a locum nurse’s shift is about 5-8 hours. It is more common to see nurses doing locum jobs to supplant their monthly income, but nurses who exclusively do locum jobs exist, albeit rare. Find out part-time locum jobs for nurses on our career portal HERE. Normal (8-10 hours a day) Nurse instructors, academicians, dialysis nurses These nurses work office hours. This is as normal as it gets. Dialysis centers and nursing schools all have regular, fixed schedules that don’t demand anything more than the usual office workday. Same goes for those who work in nursing schools as teachers, trainers, or professors. You can find out what it takes to be an academician in the nursing world in our article about lifelong learning HERE. These kinds of nurses don’t normally work weekends, and their schedules are mostly the same and predictable. A bit more (10-14 hours a day) Those involved in direct patient care, like emergency room nurses Most of the time, when nurses at the ER say they work a 12-hour shift from 7am to 7pm, they almost always never get to get out on time. There’s always something to do, someone else to cover, or some loose ends to tie up. This is made even worse by working in hospitals with a shortage of staff. Nurses would be brought in to do things that are not in their job scope, because they can do those tasks. But people who are not nurses do not do nursing tasks because they cannot do those tasks. How many times have you been to an ER, and see a nurse doing clerical work at the front desk because the hospital doesn’t have a secretary or clerk? A lot (14-24 hours a day) Paediatric intensive care, intensive care, surgical, labor and delivery. It is very common to see nurses doing double shifts in these wards. Their shifts might be 12 hours, but are sometimes to do two of those shifts back-to-back to reduce shift handovers, staffing overlap, and reduce costs. Moreover, the type of work that this category of nurses do are a bit on the lengthier side. Surgeries can go up to 24 hours, including perioperative care. Intensive care can be very demanding as patients hover around critical states. There is a variety of workloads for nurses. Each type of work suits different people who prioritize different things. With MIMS Career you have the opportunity of applying with ease to the jobs that you want to go into. Signup and apply with our easy, 1-click application process. Browse for jobs in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia. Save jobs for later if you’re still on the fence. Also, you can opt for job alerts if nothing fancies you. Signup and apply today! It’s fast, secure, and free.

How Many Hours do Nurses Work?

A common question asked to academic counselors by prospective nursing students is: “So how’s the life of a nurse? What kind of hours to they work?” It depends. It really depends on your location, academic qualifications, experience,...

Read More
As productivity writer Benjamin Hardy puts it, survival mode is: “ your life being filled to the brim with nonessential and trivial things. You don’t have time to make anything meaningful. ” Do you often feel like this? Crazy shift hours, demanding patients, children to take care and worry about at home… It’s no wonder that nurses are falling sick because of their stress levels . Your busy life just gnaws at the corners of your mind. It’s difficult to sleep, hard to find time to eat, and care about yourself. As you fend off your exhaustion, you realize at the end of your day the worst thing about your predicament is that you have to face the same thing tomorrow. And the next day. And the next one. So you go through life on autopilot. There is a way to break this cycle, and return your sense of self. You will feel happier, healthier, and achieve your personal and professional goals with these simple daily practices. Re-orient your life Take charge of your life . Most importantly, be conscious of your decision to take charge of your life. Decide on a better way of looking at how you live, and decide to act on it. Intention is very important; actions only come after that. A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow. You have only one life; it would be a shame to live it miserably, because you won’t be getting any of your youth back. Get Good Sleep So many things can be attributed to the irregularity of sleep or the lack of it. Your concentration slips out frequently. Your memory is fuzzled. Your body feels tired, and has no energy. These are all detrimental to the patients under your care. Most importantly, it poses a real danger to your health. Those who sleep 7-9 hours a day are proven to be healthier, fitter, and less likely to be obese or suffer from any other health issues. “But wait…” you say. “I can’t do that! I work shifts.” Don’t worry. Remember that you can space out your sleeps into naps if a long period of rest is not available to you. There are so many benefits to getting enough sleep. Some of them are: Increased concentration Better cognitive abilities Less risk of cardiovascular diseases Reduced chances of depression And so on. Prayer, or meditation Gratitude upon waking up, or when facing a difficult time, is one of the best habits you can form. This mindset of abundance primes you to cope better with challenging situations or periods of your life. Because you are always grateful for the things that you currently have, it negates the negative impact of focusing on the things you don’t have, or would like to be better. Prayer and meditation helps you re-orient yourself to set your most important priorities. It also serves as a good “brain detox”. Your life might be busy and hectic. By devoting some time to honing your spiritual center, you will learn to make sense and derive meaning in a chaotic world. If you don’t know how to meditate, here’s the 5-minute meditation trick every nurse needs to know . Exercise in moderation At MIMS Career we all know most of you nurses are very tired. However, exercise is something that still should not be neglected. Take walks. Walking can also be a form of meditation. Just walk a few minutes, being mindful of your surroundings and focusing on your surroundings. Try and get into the habit of exercising, too. It has many benefits which I’m sure you’re aware of. If you want a healthy mind, it has to start with care of the body. No gym membership? Try some no-equipment home exercises. Eat Healthy Eat small, frequent meals as opposed to large meals in one sitting. Those working shifts have a tendency to grab whatever food is available, and that is unhealthy. Try to prepare healthy snacks that you can bring to workplace, like cut fruits. Pack food to work. Cooking packed lunches are a lot healthier because you are aware of what you put into your body. Experiment with simple 1-dish meals. They are light enough to bring in one container, and can simply be reheated in a microwave. If going home to eat, experiment with freezing your prepared meals, or slow-marinading meat that you can throw in the oven right when you get back home. YouTube channels like Tasty can give you many ideas. Consume Great Content Read, even if you can only do it for ten minutes a day. If done every day, you’ll eventually finish many books in a year. Podcasts and audiobooks are good to listen to on your commute. Here’s a helpful article also written by me about getting started with podcasts. The world’s most successful people all read at least one book a week. You don’t have to do that, but that goes to show how important the value of reading good content is. By “good”, I don’t mean Facebook posts or tweets. I mean real, thought-provoking forms of prose that teach you something new. Over time, just by doing 10 minutes a day, you’ll have more knowledge on different topics. It will make you a better writer, speaker, and you’ll develop a personality that future employers would absolutely love whenever you go for interviews. You will view the world in a different lens. Here’s a great reading list for you to get started if you like. Write down and review your goals every day What are your goals? Write them down. Both short and long term. Then do something that gets you closer to your long term goals every day. Getting out of the rut that is your daily grind can be difficult, but very rewarding when done right. The location and working environment you’re in can make or break your learning curve towards attaining your career goals. Which is why you should give MIMS Career a shot. Browse through our extensive directory of nursing jobs across Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, and more countries coming soon. Upload your resume and be notified of jobs you might be interested in. Sign up for free, and discover the change of pace in life that you need to get out of autopilot today.

How Nurses Can Get Out of "Survival Mode"

As productivity writer Benjamin Hardy puts it, survival mode is: “ your life being filled to the brim with nonessential and trivial things. You don’t have time to make anything meaningful. ” Do you often feel like this?...

Read More
A close relative of mine is a young nurse. Two years ago she started taking care of this nice lady who was partially paralysed; her breathing muscles would no longer function autonomously, hence a tracheostomy was done so she could breathe. The condition left her bed-ridden on bad days, and wheel-chair bound on good ones. She cared for the lady to the best of her abilities, for about 18 months. One day the lady started feeling cold. She was sweating and shivering at the same time. She went unconscious, and had five cardiac arrests within 36 hours. After unsuccessfully trying to stabilize her blood pressure, she died of heart failure. The young nurse was devastated. It wasn’t her own mother, but it might as well seemed like it. It was her first patient death while working as a nurse. It affected her so much she found it difficult to work for the next week. This experience is shared by many nurses in the country. How nurses bond with their patients depends on circumstances and the length of time they provided care to them. A strong bond between patient and nurse is essential to effective nursing, but when death happens, it can deal a very significant blow. The first death of your patient can massively impact you as a nurse. So will subsequent ones. It is extremely important that this doesn’t mentally compromise your ability to do your work. How can you, as a nurse, deal with it? 1. It’s okay to feel emotions. Embrace it fully. You are human. You are in a compassionate profession: the very basis of nursing started on the principle to relieve pain, assuage suffering, and provide help to those of ailing health. It is okay to feel overwhelmed at first, especially when you have cared for the patient for so long. Empathy is good for your job, it makes you a better nurse, but it makes loss more painful. Allow yourself some time to feel, and understand your emotions. Your line of work is to care for people, the noblest of all human traits. Your grief on the death of your patient means that you have done your job. 2. Try to accept the death happened. Some wards have it harder than others for this. A geriatric ward would have the oldest, most needy patients. Conducting CPR on these patients can be cruel, especially if you or your team are not willing to “let go” of the patient. However, death in these parts of the hospital would be a routine part of the day. It is wise to accept it, so you can continue giving out the best care to the other still-living patients without letting it affect the quality of your work. Accept their deaths, and the fact that you have done all you could to alleviate their suffering. Know that you have done your best to keep them comfortable and retain their dignity. 3. Remain in control and neutral if breaking the news to the family. Don’t add to the problem. It is okay to share your emotions with the patient’s loved ones. Respect the family; if they do not wish you to partake in their grief, then kindly leave them alone. They have also gone through much, just like you. Some relatives will blame the doctor/nurse for causing the death. Don’t take this to heart. The Kubler-Ross model of grief lays out five stages, and anger is one of them. Find your own ways to vent, either through support groups, family, or colleagues. 4. Talk about it. Don’t bottle it in. One of the best things about being in the nursing workforce is that you’re surrounded by people who have gone through similar experiences too. Death is prevalent amongst healthcare professions, and sometimes just talking to a senior can help a lot. Find someone you’re comfortable with. It can be a senior nurse, a matron, or even your other colleagues in the ward. Ask them how they managed to overcome such periods of distress. Pour out whatever you’re feeling to them; it is very likely that they have felt everything you are feeling right now. Talking about it helps you make sense of what you’re feeling. By articulating it into words, you can pinpoint exactly what’s bothering you, and help you to come to terms. 5. Realize that these things happen. Things happen. Death is part and parcel of the life in a hospital. Some areas will be more prone to dealing with death than others, like the ER, surgical ward, the ICU. You might find yourself poring over the moments that led up to the death in your mind, going over what you could have done better, what you could have done differently. This leads to a general feeling of guilt. This can be very destructive to your well-being, and can affect the performance of your work to other patient who also need your care. This is not a good coping mechanism if it jeopardizes the health of your other patients. 6. Believe that you are making a difference. The death of a patient does not equal to failure. How you deal with the patient’s relatives is an extension of how you treated their late relative. For all the grief that you may be feeling right now, the patient’s family has it harder. Showing that you cared provides a monumental difference, and leads the family to a safer path of acceptance. Conclusion The trait that sets humans apart from other species is our ability to empathize for our fellow brethren. Other fauna have demonstrated this to a certain degree, but only humans have been able to take it to their very core, make it into their reason to live, and deliver it back to their community. Nursing is more than just facts or skills or the amount of certifications that you can obtain to move your career. It is founded on empathy; the ability to understand others’ suffering and pain. During times when you feel overwhelmed or devastated by the loss of your patient, stand firm and be proud of who you are, because nurses do things that not many will have the capacity to accomplish. You will find your way to deal with it as you become more experienced, and become better at learning what is the best way to help families cope with grief over time. Steel your heart, adjust that uniform, and carry on providing the best that you can give to your other patients.

How to Cope with Death and Loss, as A Nurse

A close relative of mine is a young nurse. Two years ago she started taking care of this nice lady who was partially paralysed; her breathing muscles would no longer function autonomously, hence a tracheostomy was done so she could breathe. The...

Read More