Cardiac Rehab Student Internship

Purpose: To provide the interested UNC School of Nursing student experience working with cardiac rehabilitation patients and learning about all aspects of a cardiac rehabilitation program. One internship (8-10 weeks in length) will be offered each year in the summer.

Qualifications: Rising senior at UNC SON, with an interest in pursuing a career in cardiac rehab.

Required coursework (already completed or taking concurrently): Anatomy & Physiology (including cardiovascular physiology); Exercise Physiology (with lab); Exercise Testing; Exercise Prescription; or equivalent coursework. Applicants should have a 3.0 GPA in their major courses.

Preferred experience: Group Exercise/Exercise Leader (or has had some instruction in this as part of a course); Exercise Testing

Responsibilities: Attending all clinical hours of the cardiac rehab program, including set-up, morning report, classes, and follow-up report (MWF 6:15 am – 12:15 pm); Working as assigned at health fairs; Complete case histories as assigned (see page 2).

How internship will benefit the student: By completing the internship, the student should gain experience in the following areas:

Taking HR (resting and exercise)

Measuring BP (resting and exercise)

Use of HR monitors

Basic diabetes information

Observing exercise tests (treadmill test, 6 minute walk, strength/flexibility assessment)

Observing intake history and physical evaluation with RN and CES

Reading EKGs. Obtaining rhythm strips.

Operating equipment (exercise machines, glucometer, pulse oximeter)

Observing/assessing patients

Participate in code drill with cardiac rehab clinicians

Case History Guidelines

Include the following information in your case history:

  1. Demographic information: Age, gender, ethnic group, occupation (if know), marital status, height, weight, family history of disease. If any of this information is not available, state “information unavailable”.
  2. Medical and Surgical History: Past and present history. This should include a brief informative summary of the current health status of the individual. Include symptoms and complaints, past/current injuries.
  3. Medications: Review medications and compare with current AHA/ACC guidelines for treatment. Is patient receiving optimal medical therapy per guidelines, and is patient compliant with prescribed medications? What OTC medications is this patient using?
  4. Physical Exam: Review nursing section in chart for information such as blood pressure, heart rate, grip strength, etc..
  5. Laboratory Tests: Blood work (cholesterol, glucose tolerance, etc.), x-rays, dietary analysis, diagnostic tests.
  6. Physical Fitness/Functional Test Evaluation: Review anthropometric measures, stress tests, etc. Describe the type of tests performed, review the resting, exercise, and recovery data. Discuss the test end points and determine if the testing was adequate for the situation, safely done, etc. Determine maximal aerobic capacity with appropriate calculations and/or actual test data. Was the EKG normal or were there any abnormalities?
  7. Behavior and Risk Factor Profile: Develop a CAD risk-factor profile (smoking habit, alcohol, dietary patterns, physical activity patterns, family lifestyle (single, married, children, etc.).
  8. Progression: How did your patient do throughout the course of his/her cardiac rehabilitation? Discuss changes in medications, workloads, MET levels, anthropometric measures, lipid and glucose measures. If this patient needed to lose or gain weight, was he/she successful? Why? Did this patient have any additional medical procedures or any setbacks during cardiac rehabilitation?