Extras · 1 of 4

A typical day

In by 6:30am to build and prime the bypass circuit for the first case. When the surgeon is ready, you take over the patient's heart and lungs: the blood leaves the body, runs through your pump and oxygenator, and returns. For the next 1 to 4 hours you manage flow, pressure, temperature, blood gases, drugs and clotting while the heart is stopped, and then you slowly hand the job back to the heart. One or two cases a day, then cleaning, charting and equipment checks. Some days you sit with an ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) patient in intensive care instead.