Experiences at California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC)

We had a patient (or client if you prefer), 16 yr old, Vietnamese, female with Prader Willis Syndrome and Pickwickian Syndrome. She was a pulmonary and cardiac risk. She was around 4'10" and weighed around 185 lbs. She was large all over, but mostly had centralized obesity. She also had a tracheostomy. Since I only worked with adults, she was a real challenge. By consulting with her pediatric cardiologist, doing some research on my own, and by trial and error she adjusted very well. Prader Willis patients are also cognitively challenged.
She turned out to be the best, most loving, dedicated, conscienscious patient of all times. She is now 21 and still in the program. She hasn't lost a tremendous amount of weight but I believe our program and her avid attendance has been able to sustain a better quality of life for her....

Patients who were resistant to lifestyle adjustments. However, often, a patient who was resistant would eventually come around and actually see the benefits of change. Very rewarding to them and to me.
Cognitively impaired patients. Very sad. Sometimes difficult because they couldn't remember things from 5 min. to the next. Amazingly, many cognitively impaired patients did very well with the cardiac rehab routine.
We had limited space in our facility. But, we made it work. Eventually, patients would enjoy themselves so much they wouldn't notice the limited space we had. I was concerned for our physically impaired patients because a small facility with equipment could pose a fall risk. As I said, we worked it out. Our fall risk actually reduced because we were more aware of maintaining a fall risk free area....

Besides being an exercise physiologist in cardiac rehabilitation, I was a patient advocate. Cardiac rehab is a wonderful opportunity to get to really know a patient. The program requires the patient to attend sessions three times a week for 12 weeks. It is easy to develop deeper, yet still, professional relationships with patient over that amount of time. My job skills were many: one thing that will stick out about me especially from my coworkers is that I have excellent organizational skills. I am creative and I believe that in order to be effective you need to have a system. Because there were quite a few of us in my department, I think my coworkers would agree that I created systems to make things easier for them to access whatever information they needed.
I oriented, educated, instructed, supported, and cared for all patients. I worked closely with the nurses. I loved the medical aspect of cardiac rehab. So much so, I decided to go to nursing school, which I am doing now.
Computer skills came with the job. I got better as the job became more demanding by way of forms. I made forms for every aspect of cardiac rehab. As you know, the paper work is out of hand, so I designed forms to be effective and efficient. I also managed the patients insurances. It was my duty to request extended sessions for certain patients. I would do this by way of a form to request more authorized visits. If they were denied I would make a case for the patient and appeal the decision. It worked quite often.
Heart rates, blood pressures, pulse oximetry, telemetry placement and some monitoring, blood sugars, and medication assessment. I also educated patients for heart healthy, low sodium and diabetic food plans....

A very precise, brief, yet impressive resume. Emphasize your strengths. Provide references.
At the interview: Relax, talk about your strengths, de-emphasize your weaknesses. Be willing to learn more, even if it means learning outside the job. Be honest. Don't say you have a skill that you actually don't have.
Know what your goals are and what you want in a job. If you think you won't be happy, keep looking. The money, time, location, environment, and staff (coworkers) are all important aspects of the job. Look at the whole picture to make sure neither of them will add stress to your life....