Cardiac Monitor Technician

Medical technology is amazing. It saves lives in ways never before possible. Cardiac Monitor Technicians see this amazing advancement every day as they use modern equipment to monitor patients’ heart activity. With the ability to “see” inside the patient’s chest, Cardiac Monitor Technicians help identify and prevent cardiac problems.

As a Cardiac Monitor Technician, you commonly work in the cardiac unit or intensive care unit of a hospital. Your patients are in the hospital because they are recovering from surgery, preparing to go into surgery, or have suffered a cardiac event. It’s your job to monitor their heart activity, and notify Nurses and Doctors if there’s a problem.

Machines do part of the work for you in that they monitor and analyze heartbeats and rhythms. But computers can only do so much; the rest is up to you. After reviewing the patient’s chart and becoming familiar with his or her normal heart activity, you grab your calipers and measure the height and length of the lines on the printout. You record data and are often the first to respond if the machines set off an alarm.

Although this is an entry-level job, it holds a lot of responsibility. You’re commonly in charge of monitoring a few dozen patients in any given shift. That means you must be able to multitask and remain detail-oriented at the same time. Communication skills and a team attitude are other attributes required for the job.