Cardiac Nurse Practitioners

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Hi. Are their any cardiac NPs out there? If so, do think new grad FNPs are okay to specialize in cardiology? What are the pros and cons about being a cardiac NP?

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

I'm in nephrology but several of my colleagues have crossed from nephrology to cards and they were all FNPs. Just be mindful of the Consensus Model as to scope of practice.

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Specializes in Outpatient Psychiatry.

I know a FNP with a card clinic. She's a remote site for a larger heart hospital.

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Specializes in ER/Tele, Med-Surg, Faculty, Urgent Care.

One FNP that I know has always worked in cardiology ever since he graduated from school the practice he was at the physician retired and he switched over to the physician and cardiologist that took over the patients.

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Specializes in Operating Room.

Anyone here working as hospital cardiac APRN?

What are your duties - taking care of patients on telemetry? CCU? Cath Lab patients post-angioplasty? Or something else?

Is it procedure-heavy (stress test, pace-maker interrogation, assisting with angios, etc.) or mostly admitting/rounding/discharging patients?

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Specializes in CTICU.

I'm a cardiothoracic surgery APP. I cover patients post heart tx, lung tx or VAD implantation in the CTICU (consulting for surgical issues, ICU team manage the daily issues), transplant surgical floor, and rehab/post acute unit if they go to one attached to our hospital. Most of the coverage is the floor. We round daily, enter orders, see patients, pull chest tubes/pacing wires, adjust pacing settings, interrogate VADs and adjust settings if needed, manage wound VACs or other surgical wounds. The VAD service can be paperwork-heavy as it is many readmits and discharges with various issues. The transplant patients are mostly rounding, examining, liaising with other teams and writing notes.

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Specializes in Registered Nurse.

There are multiple different roles for NPs in cardiology. Some do the job another poster described above. I work in the CPRU so I do H&Ps on patients prior to caths, ablations, pacers/biv ICDs etc. -then they are admitted to our service which is entirely NP run and usually discharged the next day. We also have another NP run inpatient service with chf exacerbations, heart transplants etc.

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Specializes in Emergency.

Hi all,

Does anyone know if there are any extra credentials that nurse practitioners can obtain in the cardiology specialty? I was googling some information and came across American Board of Cardiovascular Medicine, Inc. that claims to be able to certify NPs for the credentials of Cardiovascular NP-Board Certified (CVNP-BC). I am a bit leery about this as I cannot find any other source that backs this up as an official credential. Has anyone ever heard of this? I'm not sure if this is legit or not. They also claim to provide AEKG-BC (advanced EKG-board certification) which I have honestly never heard of.

I was just wondering what the options were for a NP wishing to obtain extra cardiac-related credentials. Thanks in advance!

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Specializes in Family Medicine, Tele/Cardiac, Camp.

I wanted to become a cardiac NP and had a fantastic cards placement as a grad student, but was told by my preceptor that she didn't know any FNP's who were cardiac NP's. All the NP's at the placement and within her professional circle were ANP's or ACNP's - and this is what I have seen in my job hunting too. Cardiac positions wanting a ANP or ACNP as opposed to a FNP - or at least preferring the 2 over the other. Of course this thread is definitely indicating there *are* FNP's working in cardiac...just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents.

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That's exactly what I do in my new position. I just graduated on May 7th and will start on June 26th. I have been an RN on the same unit for 5 years so I got hired right before graduation. I see CABG, transplant, LVAD, TAH, valves, etc. Any tips for a new grad?

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I just started a position as a new grad FNP with a Cardiologist. I was a Telemetry Nurse for 3 years so I think that helped. Otherwise i'm sure they'd prefer an Acute Care NP. So far it has been great and I'm learning a lot. My day pretty much consists of me rounding at a 1-2 hospitals in the morning seeing patients. Then heading to the office in the afternoon to see office patients.

Overall I'm satisfied so far.

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Specializes in CTICU.

Never heard of CVNP. I have CCRN, CSC and CMC certifications. I did have CCTC (transplant coordinator) as well, but I let that lapse.

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