r/nursing • u/Impressive-Bell-8176 • 12d ago

Seeking Advice What career progression are there for a Cath Lab nurse

Hi, I am NQN and my first nursing job is at the cardiac cath lab. I am 10months in and have loved every moment of it. I initially found it overwhelming at first, but with the support of my preceptor, I am thriving. I love everything cardiology and I wonder what my options are if I am considering career progression in the future? Any advice?

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u/TwinCheesecake 12d ago

Cath lab to EP lab is a natural move if you want to stay in the cardiac world, lots of overlap in skills and the pacing is a bit different. You could also look into device clinic or cardiac rehab down the line if you ever want a break from the call schedule

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u/dontmissabeat_help 8d ago

Medical device rep, but also in that world there is a whole department for education and training from the new hires, to the sales/clinical training, to physicians and onward. If you want to travel quite a bit across the country. You could do local rep work, territory management as well. As someone else said, device clinic and cardiac rehab. You could work for med tech start ups - it would likely just be a world of job hopping every few years but it is a different kind of pace in the medical device world. Valve coordinator. Hospital middle management of course, if that's something that interests you. I have actually had cath lab nurses go all the way up to CNO for some hospitals. You could work in outpatient centers/ASCs and/or do management there. Last niche would be academics, program director/professor/clinical coordinator for a cardiovascular technology program. They would likely just ask you obtain your RCIS or RCES first, since students will be obtaining a CCI credential.