British Heart Foundation - Beating heart disease together

Day in the Life of a BHF Nurse

BHF Heart Nurse and patient BHF Heart Nurses lead busy, unpredictable lives.

No day is ever the same and the various problems they encounter are rarely solved in a straightforward manner.

All BHF Heart Nurses spend the largest part of their working day visiting patients and working with other NHS professionals to improve their treatment and care.

But the structure of their day can vary massively depending on the type of patients they treat, how large a caseload they have and the area they cover.

This is an example of a typical day in the life of one of our BHF Heart Failure Nurses.

9am:	I arrive at work. I get dozens of emails every day from managers, colleagues, consultants and other Heart Nurses.
9.15am:	I catch up with the other two BHF Heart Nurses I work with. This is a really good time to talk through any problems we encountered with patients we visited the previous day, talk about possible solutions and discuss the best course of action.
10am:	I get out on the road to visit three or four patients at their homes. I tend to spend about an hour with each patient running routine tests for blood pressure, checking their weight and talking about any problems they might have.
	You almost always find there is a social problem on top of their medical condition that might be worrying them, and it is part of our job to help solve that problem, as we have to have a holistic approach to caring for the patient.
12.30pm:	I return to the office and most days I just grab a sandwich at my desk, although I occasionally allow myself a proper break!
1pm:	I spend the afternoon catching up on paperwork and making phone calls to sort out any issues that have arisen from the morning’s visits. We have to record every visit and every conversation with a GP or practice nurse.
4pm:	I check my emails again and deal with anything that has come up during the day.
	I often have to go out again in the afternoon to re-visit a patient I have seen that morning, to visit a different patient who needs something sorting out or to see a patient who I could not see in the morning – you have to be flexible to the patients’ needs.
5pm:	I am supposed to finish at 5pm, but most days I tend to leave around 6pm. It depends on how well your patients are.
6pm:	I head home for a well-earned rest, although I often get called by a patient on my mobile in the evening too, even though it is really supposed to be a nine to five service. It is a very busy job and can be very tiring, but the rewards are more than worth it.

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