CHI St. Joseph Cardiac Rehab: Practicing A Passion

Reading the echocardiogram results and interpreting the peaks and troughs in patient heart level reports made my heart beat incredibly fast. For the first time in my life, I was able to practice and learn the aspects related to what I had dreamt of doing since my 4th grade. My hands were shaking as I continued to take notes on EKG structure. I sterilized the ear tips of what I could call my very own stethoscope. I couldn't believe it when I first saw myself in the mirror as I set the stethoscope in my ears. I was astounded that I forgot to turn it on when testing it. Goosebumps crawled up my arms when I put the bell on the nurse's wrist to practice hearing pulse. The sound of blood rushing through veins silenced everything else around me. I wrapped the cuff around the nurse and slid the bell on top of the brachial artery. I could hear the pulse !! Now it was time to go to the next step; taking blood pressure.

I had to then pre-determine which size blood pressure cuff would be best fitted for the future patients.My first cuff I practiced with on the nurse was too tight. The second time I did not tie the cuff tight enough, but I finally strapped it correctly. I inflated the cuff with the squeezable bulb and slowly began to release the air valve to hear for the first heart beat. As soon as the first beat was heard, I recorded the systolic pressure indicating the artery is opened and blood is sent out of the heart. I continued to rotate the valve to hear for the diastolic pressure, the pressure of the heart muscle between beats. It took me multiple tries until I got a hold of the procedure. After a couple of days, the patients were ready for me to take their blood pressure and oxygen readings. I sat the patient down, wrapped the proper cuff, and got an accurate reading on the first time. Some patients , I had to try 2-3 times, but soon, I did not need to re-check my measures. Taking blood pressure and setting the stethescope around my neck is only the start of my career.