Cardiology

Our 50-bed Cardiac Specialty Unit is home to a cohesive team of nurses focused on providing the best possible patient care. We have very strong collaboration with our physicians, and very high nurse satisfaction. We provide our nurses with the latest technology including Cisco PDAs with waveform display.

We have a very progressive congestive heart failure team that utilizes aquaphoresis, biventricular pacing and gene therapy. Our affiliation with the University of Vermont provides us with ongoing research opportunities. We have close relationships with researchers, who are continually involved in studies on the unit.

Our patient population includes rule out (R/O) MI and post-MI, pre- and post- cardiology interventions, Dysrhythmia patients for medication therapy, pacemakers, intracardiac defibrillators, congestive heart failure and pre-op cardiac surgery.

Nurses have the opportunity to advance through the clinical ladder or they can become Care Coordinators, Nurse Educators or Assistant Nurse Managers. All nurses are invited to participate in Shared Governance, which in our unit focuses on quality improvement, education and clinical practice.

For more information call Renee Dall at (802) 847-2819 or (800) 722-9922 or visit www.fletcherallen.org.

Cardiology

Orientation

Our ten-week on-unit orientation includes:

  • Didactic sessions with the cardiology Nurse Educator
  • Clinical preceptorship with a primary mentor and alternate assigned as needed
  • Observation of cardiology procedures to include catheterization lab interventions, electrophysiology testing/ pacemaker/icd implants, echocardiography, cardiac stress testing, cardiac rehabilitation program and cardiac surgery, if desired.

A 72-hour cardiology/cardiothoracic core course will be presented to all new nurses to enhance their clinical knowledge and skills in the care of this patient population.