I love nursing in the cardiac ICU. But I worry the system itself will flatline – CBC

With the pandemic, it feels like the health-care system and my own coping mechanisms are collapsing

Oct 30, 2022

Ventricular fibrillation — it’s a heart rhythm that is incompatible with life. One I’m all too familiar with.

I’m a nurse in a cardiac intensive care unit. Just minutes ago, I initiated cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for the man in front of me, and now my high-functioning team dances around our patient, a ballet of skill attempting to defy mother nature’s plan.

Working alongside this team used to make me feel like I was part of something bigger than myself.

Until now, that was enough.

But in these last two years, I’ve felt like the system was collapsing around me. So were my normal stress coping mechanisms — so I’m sitting down to write about it instead.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/heather-haberli-first-person-cardiac-icu-1.6621733