Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehab Specialist

Intermountain Health

2d•$29 - $45

About The Position

The Cardiac/Pulmonary Rehab Specialist helps patients return to baseline health or improve functional capacity following a cardiac or pulmonary event. The specialist designs, implements, and evaluates individualized exercise and lifestyle-management programs to promote recovery, reduce risk factors, and improve quality of life. The role includes assessing patients through medical-history review, vital-sign monitoring, ECG interpretation, and functional-capacity testing. As part of a multidisciplinary team, the specialist provides patients and families with education on medication compliance, stress management, symptom recognition, and healthy lifestyle practices. The position also involves developing and updating treatment plans, documenting care, supporting inpatient mobility, contributing to safety and quality-improvement initiatives, mentoring new staff, and helping improve departmental protocols and patient satisfaction.

Requirements

Actively enrolled in a bachelor’s program expected to be completed within 3–5 years, or hold a bachelor’s degree in a related field such as Exercise Physiology, Exercise Science, or Kinesiology.
Current Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers (BLS-HCP) certification.
Current Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) certification, or PALS certification for pediatrics, as required by the facility.
Successfully complete a formal ECG interpretation and arrhythmia detection course within six months of hire.
Skills in clinical assessment and monitoring, ECG interpretation, symptom recognition, functional-capacity testing, exercise programming, patient education and coaching, communication, patient care, documentation, care coordination, and technical use of rehabilitation equipment, telemetry systems, and clinical tools.

Nice To Haves

One year of cardiac and/or pulmonary rehabilitation experience.

Responsibilities

Apply foundational knowledge of exercise-program design, evaluation, and standards for cardiac and/or pulmonary rehabilitation patients, and learn departmental policies, protocols, and procedures.
Obtain medical histories through patient interviews and medical-record review; review medications; assess symptoms and vital signs; measure heart rate, blood pressure, and blood glucose; and interpret ECGs at rest and during exercise.
Assign and instruct appropriate exercise levels and modalities based on patients’ age, health status, limitations, capacity, and physician-prescribed exercise plans.
Perform functional-capacity testing using appropriate procedures and equipment, including six-minute walk tests, bike tests, and arm ergometer tests.
Coordinate and provide disease-specific exercise, education, and lifestyle-management interventions for patients, families, and staff, including nutrition, blood-pressure management, medication compliance, stress management, symptom recognition, smoking cessation, lipid management, risk-factor modification, and independent exercise.
Educate patients about monitoring vital signs, prescription and over-the-counter medications, coronary artery disease risk factors, exercise in temperature extremes, stress reduction, angina and heart-attack symptoms, and appropriate workload changes.
Provide inpatient mobility, activities of daily living, and education according to a developed plan of care and delegation by therapists or floor RNs; monitor vital signs and physiological responses to activity.
Obtain and record assigned vital signs, including blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen saturation; identify changes in patients’ physical, mental, and emotional status; respond to immediate needs; involve other staff as appropriate; and follow up with physicians by telephone and/or symptom report.
Complete individualized cardiac and/or pulmonary rehabilitation treatment plans, daily and progress notes, and discharge documentation according to departmental standards; accurately document productivity and apply knowledge of insurance requirements.
Participate in quality and patient-safety initiatives, identify opportunities to improve processes and patient satisfaction, and address potential safety hazards affecting patients or staff.
Assist with training new caregivers and students and perform other assigned duties.