Improving care for cardiac patients with heart arrhythmias

I became a registered nurse in 1993 and, 18 months after qualifying, I pursued a career in cardiology, which led me to undertake a variety of roles, including ward staff nurse and specialist nurse. As a ward nurse, I was able to cultivate leadership, education and patient advocate skills, developing a passion for patient education, in particular for patients with arrhythmia, which has stayed with me throughout my career.

While working as a cardiac rehabilitation nurse, I was fortunate to be able to set up a unique research-based cardiac rehabilitation programme for patients with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). This service provided patient support, education and an opportunity to exercise within a safe environment. From this initiative, ICD patients continue to have access to a research-based, ICD-specific, rehabilitation programme, thus improving the patients' physical and psychological health.

I had the opportunity to attend national meetings and conferences where I networked with other nurse specialists who were providing care for arrhythmia patients and we founded a supportive arrhythmia nurse forum. The National Service Framework (NSF) for Coronary Heart Disease, which included arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death was published in 2005 (Department of Health Coronary Heart Disease Team, 2005), leading to an expansion of arrhythmia nurse specialists across the UK, many of whom were funded by the British Heart Foundation.