Haleigh Hughes

Responsibilities

Work in Phase II and Phase III cardiopulmonary rehab. Taking Phase II patient pre-exercise, exercise, and post-exercise blood pressures. Take Phase III patient pre-exercise blood pressures. Assist with new patient assessments. Complete patient 6-minute walk tests. Lead patients in warm-ups, cool-downs, and weight exercises. Sit in on patient education sessions. Observe echocardiograms and Phase 1 cardiac rehab.

Accomplishments

Seeing the impact that exercise had on the phase II patients. I did most of the new patient 6-minute walk tests as well as their final one. It was great to see how much they improved throughout the 6-week program and how much better they now feel as they began their new healthy lifestyle. The relationships I built along the way was another great accomplishment.

What advice would you give?

If going into cardiac rehab, I would recommend knowing normal versus abnormal EKG strips. This is something that i was not familiar with and it made it difficult to follow along with. Also, know that you might not know much about the field you are going into. The only way to become familiar with it is by doing. You will learn so much more doing the job than you could in school.