Cardiac cath lab nurses are specialized nurses who can be after passing the NCLEX-RN exam and the training time. However, not everyone knows exactly what is cardiac cath lab nurse do and how to be a cardiac cath lab nurse. Thus, this cardiac cath lab nurse career guide will help readers understand as well as choose the right path to work in the near future. Let’s roll to the main part to explore!

 

cardiac cath lab nurses
cardiac cath lab nurses career guide

 

1. What is a Cardiac cath lab nurse?

 

Cath lab nurses are healthcare professionals that collaborate with doctors to offer cardiac care to patients before, during, and after medical procedures. They check patients to verify that they are fit for operation. They check patients’ vitals during procedures to ensure they are at healthy ranges. After a patient has been released from surgery, cath lab nurses conduct their primary task of working with and assisting their patients during recovery. Cath lab nurses are there with their patients at all stages of their procedures and may even give care skills after they have recovered.

 

Patients might range from cath lab nurses to anybody who needs a catheter. However, the majority of their patients are elderly. Cath lab nurses may occasionally serve patients who have suffered catastrophic injuries.

 

2. What are the duties of cardiac 

According to the American Nurses Association’s Society for Vascular Nursing, cardiac cath lab nurses are responsible for the following tasks that listed below:

  • Medication administration
  • Help with diagnostic procedures
  • Help with interventional procedures
  • Prepare for unexpected events
  • During cardiac catheterization and electrophysiology procedures, circulate and scrub
  • Discharge education for patients and families includes procedural, medication, activity, and nutritional information
  • Before discharge, educate patients and their families on medication, lifestyle, and surgical site care.
  • Ensure that all consent form is correctly completed.
  • Pre- and post-catheterization examination of the patient
  • Administration of cardiac catheterization and electrophysiology patients
  • The vital signs of the patient should be monitored and documented.
  • Keep an eye out for indications of illness or procedure adverse effects.
  • Keep track of the patient’s sedative levels both during and after the treatment.
  • Prepare the patients for the operations.

 

caridac cath lab nurse career guide
cardiac cath lab nurses are responsible for multiple tasks

 

3. How to become a Cardiac cath lab nurse

By following the steps of this cardiac cath lab nurse career guide, we hope that it is helpful for you:

  

3.1. Earn a nursing degree

Before becoming a cath lab nurse, you must first become a registered nurse (RN) by enrolling in an undergraduate nursing school. Most nursing schools will provide you a good knowledge of issues like nutrition, microbiology, and dose calculations that you’ll need in your nursing job. Though an associate degree may be used to become an RN, most people who want a nursing specialization choose a bachelor of science in nursing since it allows them to build the required skills and knowledge for the profession while also adding to their credentials when applying for future opportunities.

 

3.2. Pass NCLEX-RN Exam 

To begin your nursing profession after completing your undergraduate degree, you must pass the National Council Licensure Exam for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN). The exam often assesses your knowledge and comprehension of nursing procedures and your ability to use critical thinking abilities and make rapid decisions. These proven abilities will frequently be required for a job as an RN since you will need to think fast in order to properly serve patients. They frequently give the exam on a computer, which presents the tester with questions of varying complexity based on their performance.

 

>> Read more: NCLEX-RN Exam: What Should You Know About It?

 

3.3. Gain relevant experience 

 

Before specializing in a particular area of practice, registered nurses should have significant experience in their selected specialty. Working closely with cardiologists can help prospective cath lab nurses gain knowledge of the role and network effectively with other cardiac experts. When networking, it is crucial to express your career goals and inquire about possibilities to learn more about the cath lab role from supervisors or physicians. This can help companies remember you for future possibilities and provide you with meaningful information for your future position.

 

3.4.  Obtain cardiac vascular certification 

Though it is not always required, several hospitals and healthcare facilities commonly need cath lab nurses to get advanced cardiac life support certification. This credential is frequently obtained through a test administered by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Obtaining a basic life support certification might also help you gain important information for the advanced life support examination. Most hospitals ask you to renew your certification every five years after you receive it.

 

4. What are the salary and job outlook for cardiac cath lab nurses? 

 

4.1. Salary

 Catheterization lab nurses make an average of $2,243 per week. They do, however, get an average of $12,500 in overtime pay every year. Cath lab nurses may also be eligible for important benefits such as health insurance, tuition reimbursement, and 401(k) plans via their hospital or workplace.

 

>> Read more: Nurse salary: How much do nurse make

 

4.2. Job Outlook

 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the job outlook for registered nurses will improve by 7% between 2019 and 2029. That equates to an additional 175,900 registered nurse employment vacancies every year. They anticipate a rise in the number of nurses needed in long-term care institutions as well as outpatient care facilities such as chemotherapy and rehabilitation clinics.

 

cardiac cath lab nurse
cardiac cath lab nurses are expected to grow by 7% in 2029

 

5. What are the needed skills that nurses should have? 

To master cath lab nurses, you should gain, develop and enhance these skills below: 

 

5.1. Communication skill

Communication is a critical ability for cath lab nurses to have since it allows them to successfully transmit information to physicians, patients, and their families. It is critical for cath lab nurses to deliver all required patient histories to physicians before and after treatments. Cath lab nurses must give quality education on specific medical procedures and information to patients and their families so that they may care for themselves after discharge.

 

5.2. Detail-oriented

Cath lab nurses must be detail-oriented while monitoring the patient’s vital signs, and sedation levels, and assessing the patient for symptoms of the disease. Cath lab nurses can build amazing detail-oriented methods that will be a great asset throughout their careers by remaining very vigilant and focused on the causes of specific difficulties.

 

5.3. Active listening 

When accepting orders from physicians or receiving critical information from patients, cath lab nurses frequently engage in active listening skills. When given a task or assignment, cath lab nurses must attentively listen to what doctors are saying and ensure that patients receive the appropriate therapy or medicine. Cath lab nurses may better comprehend what’s wrong with patients by actively listening to them, which allows them to diagnose their ailments or illnesses more precisely.

 

These are all the needed information that you should know about Cardiac cath lab nurses. We hope that after reading this article, you are given needed information about nursing as well as cardiac cath lab nurses. Don’t forget to practice with free NCLEX questions of NCLEX Test Pro!