Cardiac Physiologist's  analyse known and suspected heart disease. If you work in cardiac sciences, you’ll carry out crucial diagnostic, monitoring and analytical procedures for patients with known or suspected heart disease. You’ll also assist in interventional procedures. In cardiac sciences, you’ll be assessing patients during what can be a distressing time in their lives.You’ll have a lot of direct patient contact, working with people of all ages, ranging from babies to the elderly.

A day in the life

Depending on your role, you could be carrying out a range of procedures in cardiac sciences including:

• echocardiography - using ultrasound to obtain pictures of the heart to help diagnose  and monitor diseases that affect the structure and function of the heart including heart valves and muscle
• pacemaker implantation and follow-up -  taking measurements and programming pacemaker devices to ensure they are functioning correctly when they are implanted and during long-term follow-up
• exercise stress testing - closely monitoring a patient as they exercise (usually on a treadmill) to test if the blood vessels supplying the heart are working properly. Can be used as part of diagnosis or monitoring the response to treatment including surgery.

 Your development

With further training or experience or both, you may be able to develop your career further and apply for vacancies in areas such as further specialisation, management, research or teaching.

Healthcare science staff often work at the forefront of research and innovation, so that patients are continually receiving the very best healthcare. For example, in cardiac science, healthcare science staff are developing non-invasive techniques for various cardiac procedures.

For more information regarding joining our team, please submit a form through the ‘Contact us’ page or contact the Human Resources team, who are more than happy to help, on 02392 286577 or email hr.inbox@porthosp.nhs.uk.