This is my first post at allnurses.com, so I apologize if it is in the wrong forum. I've been "lurking" on various forums for several weeks now and I must say I am very impressed with the professionalism and diversity represented here!
I've been an RN for 13 years (in June) and most of my experience is in peds oncology. Prior to going to nursing school I earned a BS in Biology, and really considered getting a Master's in Exercise Physiology but for a number of reasons attended nursing school instead. About 5 yrs ago, though, I began to re-examine the Ex Phys thing and got really into fitness. I am certified as a personal trainer and have worked M-F attempting to build a training business out of my home while working weekends as an RN for the past year. Well, long story short I am now extremely burned out and have decided that my best option is to combine nursing and fitness/wellness into one career.
The area I'm most interested in is cardiac rehab, but I have no nursing experience in cardiology. Given my background, is there any possibility I could find a job in cardiac rehab if I were to add ACLS and the ACSM Clinical Exercise Specialist cert (admittedly not a nursing cert, but very technical and geared to cardiopulmonary rehab pt's) to my credentials? The one thing I am not willing to do is go back to "square one" (i.e. night shift in the CCU, etc...), so if this is absolutely necessary I'd rather know now so I can continue looking for the right fit. Thanks so much for your thoughts!!
I am a full time cardiac rehab nurse. To be honest I would not reccomend any nurse for this job UNLESS they had cardiac CCU or cardiac telemetry experience. Most of these patients are on Cardiac medications which you need to understand, plus the anatomy/physiology of what happens with cardiac patients. You may or may not be working with other nurses. 1 day out of the week, I am NOT with another RN but with the exercise physiologist, who granted, does have a good understanding of cardiac disease as he many years of experience. My other nurses are all either former CCU or telemtry nurses.
Just today, I had 3 almost incidents this morning during our exercise session. An anxiety attack, post exercise hypotension, during exercise angina attack. I have sent 14 patients to the hospital ER over the last year, most were admitted and treated-----restent, new stent, medication adjustment. Since our hopsital is hi acuity we also have heart transplant patients, we see LVAD inpatients also.
Does it have to be narrowed down to cardiac rehab? Because I was thinking how your degree's could get you a job working for a health insurance company with concentration on disease prevention.
This is my first post in here; I was very interested to read all the posts about Cardiac Rehab nursing. I have been the CR nurse for about 1 1/2 years. I worked for about 15 years in ICU/CCU, and it DEFINITELY is a big help! However, since I've started, I have felt somewhat "incompetent" regarding the exercise teaching and goals. I have the prescription to follow from their stress tests, but as for the weight training, etc, I'm just "guessing" in a way. My manager told me to see if I can find some training courses or certification classes I can take. I have looked into ACSM, and the Exercise Specialist Certification, but all of the workshops are several hundred miles away from where I live, and they (management) don't seem thrilled to send me to these. I do love my job, I love all of the patients! (I get alot of presents!). I'm fortunate that I get to work in ICU a couple of days a month, to keep current on the acute stuff.
Does anyone have any ideas on additional training? I could probably take some exercise physiology classes at a local college, but I wouldn't really come out with a degree or certification.
I am the only staff member in the exercise room when the patients are exercising. I have up to 5 at a time. (there are other staff readily available in the room next door).
Hi fitness RN, in response to your questions about training for increasing exercise experience. In Canada we have an organization called CAN Fit Pro. They provide certifications in various exercise related courses. The courses are a few days and an examination process. You need a certification in "personal training". I'm not sure where you could get this certification in the U.S. Good luck.
lee1
754 Posts
I am a full time cardiac rehab nurse. To be honest I would not reccomend any nurse for this job UNLESS they had cardiac CCU or cardiac telemetry experience. Most of these patients are on Cardiac medications which you need to understand, plus the anatomy/physiology of what happens with cardiac patients. You may or may not be working with other nurses. 1 day out of the week, I am NOT with another RN but with the exercise physiologist, who granted, does have a good understanding of cardiac disease as he many years of experience. My other nurses are all either former CCU or telemtry nurses.
Just today, I had 3 almost incidents this morning during our exercise session. An anxiety attack, post exercise hypotension, during exercise angina attack. I have sent 14 patients to the hospital ER over the last year, most were admitted and treated-----restent, new stent, medication adjustment. Since our hopsital is hi acuity we also have heart transplant patients, we see LVAD inpatients also.