Junior perfusionist

Pay in the destination countries

Monthly, in US dollars. Each country is an Imora admission package — open one for that route's fees, language requirement and deadline.

What does the day look like?

You build, prime and run the heart-lung machine and cardiopulmonary bypass circuit during open-heart surgery. You select cannulae and oxygenator, manage blood flow, oxygen and carbon dioxide, monitor haemodynamics, blood gases, blood cell count and ACT, give blood products and medicines through the circuit under the surgeon and anaesthetist, and manage hypothermia and haemodilution. Tools are the heart-lung machine, cardiopulmonary bypass circuit, oxygenator, cell saver, ACT analyser and blood gas analyser. Units use equipment from LivaNova, Medtronic, Terumo and Getinge. Where the unit provides them, you also cover ECMO, ventricular assist devices and intra-aortic balloon pump support.

The bypass run itself is a minority of paid time. Most of the day is preparation, safety checks, standby, monitoring in theatre, handover, notes, stock orders and on-call cover. In the United Kingdom the standard is 37.5 hours per week on shift patterns, plus nights, weekends, rotating holidays and on-call. United States and Australia profiles describe the same pattern, including call-ins for emergencies, transplants and ECMO retrievals. You stand through long cases and move heavy equipment.

Where does this lead?