Merlin Sam shares her journey into cardiac physiology with us.
Merlin, tell us about your role?
I am currently a senior cardiac physiologist, on a Band 6/7 development post. I have been at CUH for just over two months and did part of my training here whilst I was a student.
Where did you train and how long did you train for?
As a graduate, I did the initial preceptorship year at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospitals working both in the invasive and non-invasive specialisms, followed by three years at Royal Free Hospital in London, specialising in echocardiography.
What does an average working day look like?
I work 08:00-18:00 pattern 4 days a week and I work in the non-invasive part of the department. I could spend a morning performing echocardiograms in an outpatients clinic or do an inpatient rotation on acutely unwell patients on the wards. In the afternoon, I might either form part of a team including a cardiologist, a nurse for specialist echo services or stress testing. Or I could be in ECG or Holter fitting clinics. I am analyse ECGs from a Holter monitor which is a portable electrocardiogram unit that we use to monitor the heart’s electrical activity.
What’s your favourite thing about your job?
I love the variety my career gives, the challenge of complex patients and deciphering difficult diagnostics from time to time.
I feel privileged to be a part of a patient’s care and in their journey of betterment. Like at times performing an echo in ITU, that discovers why a patient is so unwell and providing informative diagnoses on how to guide their treatment.
I enjoy the freedom and challenge of working as a solo practitioner, but also the camaraderie of working in a team.
How did you get into cardiac physiology? And could others get into it?
I completed the healthcare science physiology program PTP (Practitioner Training Program) which was three years in total and incorporated clinical placements. I further graduated from an MSc programme in Echocardiography to specialise and as a route to progress on to be a clinical scientist once I completed the National Scientist Training Program (STP) equivalence.
If you have a life sciences degree, you can follow the STP, which is a Master’s Degree programme that enables you to be employed in a Band 6 capacity whilst you train. There is also an apprenticeship pathway available that leads to an undergraduate degree.
Why did you choose to do what you do?
It is a challenging and fulfilling role to be a cardiac physiologist as you will always be working with new patients who present unique problems, but in many cases you get to help patients and watch them recover and improve.
What advice would you give to some who wants to become a cardiac physiologist?
We spend most of our lifetime at work, so I believe it is important that we enjoy what we do. Have good banter when we can among all the stress we encounter from time to time. The key is to have a positive mind-set and approach as though no two days will be the same.