Nursing in an intensive care unit can be challenging and requires complete physical, mental and intellectual dedication. Therefore, not many people choose this career path for themselves. The positive side is the sufficient number of job opportunities for ICU nurses, including work in intensive care units and vacancies where such experience is required. Choosing an intensive care unit, a specialist can determine the direction of further professional development for themself. Therefore, the transition from the position of ICU nurse in the cardiac unit to work in a cardiac clinic is a logical step.
It is noteworthy that the ICU and cardiac surgery units work closely together. It often happens that ICU nurses manage the handover of patients to cardiac wards (Graan, 2016). The transition from ICU to cardiac surgery may be a logical step, but the choice is always up to the nurse. After all, work in cardiac surgery can be even more overloaded than ICU nursing. In particular, scientists note that improving the sleep quality of cardiac surgical ICU nurses is an effective way to relieve the occupational stress (Duan et al., 2017). Besides, work in cardiac clinics can be complicated by the need to comply with security measures associated with COVID-19 (Gaudino et al., 2020). Heart services include treatment, rehabilitation and prevention, and there are numerous job opportunities for ICU nurses available in the Miami area.
The following are several vacancies that offer career opportunities for nurse practitioners. A first appealing one is the job of a Registered Nurse in Cardiovascular unit of Jackson Health System, Miami, Florida. It is a full-time position with working hours from 7:00 am to 7:30 pm, and rotating weekends. Responsibilities include assessment, diagnosis, identification of outcomes, planning, implementation, coordination of care, teaching and health promotion and evaluation. It is also stated that clinical staff nurse (CSN) will work using the JHS CARE model, which includes accountability for planning, implementing, evaluating and communicating all phases of nursing care.
The position requires 1 to 3 years of related experience and Associate’s degree in Nursing, while BSN degree is preferred. Since the nurse will perform testing in the Operating Room, Neuro ICU, NICU, PICU, Pedi-ER, Cath Lab and Interventional Radiology areas, the educational degree will be verified from time to time. Besides, to work on this position, a valid Florida RN license is required, as well as American Heart Association (AHA) Basic Life Support (BLS) for Healthcare Providers certification with at least six months validity. The nurse also has to be able to communicate with other team members, show compassion, patience and maintain a non-judgmental approach to patients, their families, other employees and customers. Finally, the nurse has to possess unit-specific competencies, as indicated in the unit competency check-list.
Another vacancy is Registered Nurse in Cardiac Cath Lab in North Shore Medical Center, Miami, Florida. It is a full-time, shift type position, requiring developing plans, delivering and evaluating nursing care under the supervision of the director or designee. The NP should also be a team leader and facilitator providing communications with other health team members. The responsibilities include assisting all physicians and staff with clinical and technical aspects of cardiovascular care, invasive/surgical and interventional procedures inventory control. Besides, the NP should be able to function on all cardiac alerts and STEMI cases and must be able to take a call and be available within 30 minutes. The position requires a valid Florida RN license and current BLS certification.
References
Duan, X., Wu, Q., Zhu, X., & Shi, Y. (2017). Improving sleep quality relieves occupational stress in nurses of cardiac surgical intensive care unit. Biomedical Research, 28(9), 1-10.
Gaudino, M., Chikwe, J., Hameed, I., Robinson, N. B., Fremes, S. E., & Ruel, M. (2020). The response of cardiac surgery units to COVID-19: An internationally-based quantitative survey. Circulation, 7(1), 1-3.
Graan, S. M., Botti, M., Wood, B., & Redley, B. (2016). Nursing handover from ICU to cardiac ward: Standardized tools to reduce safety risks. Australian Critical Care, 29(3), 165-171.