Cardiac Rehab Nurse Enjoys Her Role As A Teacher
Nancy Houlihan, R.N., has cared for cardiac patients throughout her entire 30-year career in nursing, and she can’t imagine doing anything else.
“I grew up one of seven children,” Houlihan said. “Four of us — along with our mom — took nurse’s aide courses while we were in high school. My father used to say, ‘Go into nursing and you’ll always have a job.’ Nursing does offer job stability, but it offers so much more than that.”
Three of Houlihan’s siblings pursued careers in health care — one is a perfusionist, one is an occupational therapist and one, like Houlihan, is a nurse. Houlihan, 51, earned her diploma at St. Joseph’s Hospital School of Nursing in Omaha, Neb. She then took a job as a staff nurse in the coronary care unit at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa. She also worked in the cardiovascular intensive care unit and was a nurse manager in the recovery room. In 1983, she and her husband, Tom, moved to Creve Coeur, Mo., and she worked at SSM DePaul Health Center in Bridgeton, Mo., setting up the new cardiovascular intensive care unit.
A short time later, Houlihan put her career on hold to care for her second child who had health problems as a baby. In 1991, she took a refresher course and joined St. Anthony’s Medical Center in St. Louis.
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Houlihan works in cardiac rehabilitation, where patients recovering from heart surgery or a heart attack enter a medically monitored exercise program to help them regain their strength and return to normal activities. With doctor’s orders, patients begin rehabilitation a few weeks after their surgery or heart attack. They may attend as many as three monitored, one-hour exercise sessions per week in the cardiac rehab clinic of St. Anthony’s Heart and Ambulatory Service Center.
While using equipment designed to exercise the cardiovascular system, including treadmills, bicycles and arm cycles, the patient’s heart response is monitored on a telemetry unit, and the patient’s blood pressure is taken regularly. Patients also are educated about lifestyle changes to ensure their continued health. Houlihan assesses patients, monitors their exercise, provides ongoing education, addresses any problems and maintains communication with physicians.
“Cardiac care has greatly expanded from 30 years ago,” Houlihan said. “When I started out, we used to watch the patient have a heart attack and then treat the complications. Now, doctors try to prevent heart attacks and/or limit the damage. Interventional procedures, medications and even diagnostic tools have improved tremendously.
“My job is to teach secondary prevention and to help patients make lifestyle changes to reduce the risk of a future event,” she said. “I try to help them recover physically but also assist them in smoking cessation, dietary changes, stress management, weight loss, blood pressure monitoring and diabetes management. I try to help the patient and his or her family make necessary changes.”
The best part of her job, Houlihan says, is the patient interaction.
“I enjoy the teaching and the rapport you develop with patients,” she said. “I love seeing them get their lives back. Some of them are so frightened at first. Then, they realize they not only are going to live, but they can live very well just by making some changes in their lives. I sometimes think I learn as much from them as they learn from me. I look back, and I think I’ve gained something from every patient. Sometimes the most difficult ones teach me the most.”
Patience is just one quality that is necessary to be a successful cardiac rehab nurse. The ability to multitask and an interest in keeping up-to-date in a rapidly changing field also are important, Houlihan said. It also helps to be a good listener and to enjoy teaching.
Educational requirements include being a registered nurse and being certified in advanced cardiac life support. Experience working with cardiac inpatients is preferred, Houlihan said.
“I’m very happy working here,” Houlihan said. “I see a lot of good recoveries and positive changes for patients. In cardiac rehab, the patients get to know the staff better, and they’re feeling better by the time they see us. They’re more comfortable, more confident, and they’re getting back in control of their lives. One of our patients brings the staff lunch every year on the anniversary of his heart surgery to thank us for helping him get his life back.
“I feel like we in cardiac rehab reap the rewards — the thanks and the positive feedback from patients — for the care given by every nurse in the hospital,” Houlihan said.
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