Ask the Clinical Instructor: A Q&A column for those new to the cath lab

I am about to graduate from my CVT program and I need to get a job. This is the first time I have had to write a resume. What tips could you give me? A good resume is very important for finding the job that you want. With a good resume, you should have hospitals competing for you, not you competing with other people for a job. Some of the things to considering when writing a resume are: 1. You have to sell a product: you. You have to make yourself look attractive. Look at the job ads the employers put in their advertisements. If they ask for people who are registry-eligible, be sure to include that information about yourself. If they are looking for someone who has experience in EP, remember to inlcude that as well. List all of the things they are looking for that you can fufill. Never lie or embellish on your resume; employers will find out the truth soon enough. Put all of the qualifications you have in your resume that they list as desired in their ads. That way they can see that you are someone who is just what they are looking for. 2. Keep the resume brief. Nobody wants to read 5 pages about your babysitting career or your mini golf championship. Keep it short, sweet and relevant to what you hope will be appealing to your prospective employer. 3. Proofread your resume. Spellcheck doesn't always work. Read it yourself and let someone else also read it. Reading your resume backwards will make mistakes in spelling stand out to you and your proofreader. 4. Things to include in your resume: a. First and last name; b. Address (street and email); c. A phone number where you can be reached; d. Write the name of the position you will be applying for and how you can satisfy the requirements of that position, i.e. : Cardiovascular Specialist Cardiovascular technologist, registry-eligible. Diagnostic and interventional, adult and pediatric catheterizations, good computer skills. Electrophysiology experience, BLS and ACLS certified. e. List pertinent education and G.P.A., as well as colleges and degrees as appropriate; f. List all interships, relevant experience, previous employers and hospitals where you did and/or are doing clinical time. After a normal diagnostic case, the sheath was pulled and the patient started yawning. One of the nurses said she was going to vasovagal and that the yawning was her clue. How was that a clue? Yawning has long been recognized as an early sign of a vasovagal reaction. During hemostasis and initial arterial access, among other times, a patient may vasovagal. The yawning comes from the inhibition of the sympathetic nervous system. Along with yawning, watch for bradycardia, diaphoresis, hypotension and confusion. Common treatments for a vasovagal reaction include fluid challenges if the patient can tolerate it, atropine, and raising the patient’s feet (if it is possible) to return blood from the legs back to the more important core of the body. Remember to watch the patient even after the closing AO pressure. The case is not over until you turn care over to a nurse or other qualified health care professional and give a report. Educator’s Comment: Making a Choice In our profession, people choose to be professionals or choose to be techs. There are both in every lab, I'm sure. You know the types. There are some people who are there day after day, push the buttons, lift and move patients, put on scrubs, and punch in and punch out. Then there are people who go above and beyond. These are people who study their chosen profession, patient care, pharmacology, radiology, and ACLS, and continuously strive to improve themselves and the others around them. They understand that the purpose of being independent is to be interdependent to be a team player for the cath team and the patients. These are the people who don’t stop at 36 credits, but go further, because it's not about getting 36 credits, but about being the best you can be. It upsets me that we have people who are content with pushing buttons, and punching in and punching out, especially in our line of work. It’s dangerous! It’s so important to me to both be the best I can be and educate the people around me. I have a student every semester, and I write this column with questions from students that I think other students will benefit from reading. I also tutor students, give lectures for high school students about cardiac services, and lecture EMT classes on cardiovascular emergencies. I love our profession and think that people who have a nonchalant attitude should find another profession, like being nonchalant about whether or not they put cheese on a cheeseburger at McDonald's. Our job is too important. People’s lives are at stake every day, and we need to be the best we can be all the time. No, not everyone is a professional. Some of us are techs and deserve that title, while others are Registered Specialists and deserve that title.

NULL