Cardiographer Phoebe Brennan tells us what she loves about her role
Phoebe Brennan has been working as a cardiographer at Northumbria Healthcare for just over six months.
“I studied sport and exercise science at university and loved every minute of it but I didn’t always plan on being a cardiographer. In 2018 my partner and I decided to buy a café, which we ran for a couple of years before deciding we needed a career change.
“I have always been interested in the functions of the body, especially the heart, and after speaking to a friend who is a cardiac physiologist I was keen to begin a career in cardiology.
“From my first day, I felt at ease with the cardiac investigations team. No matter what their specific role is, the whole team all work together efficiently and have a really great work ethic which keeps things running smoothly.”
Phoebe began her new role in the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“As we were in the middle of the first national lockdown, I started my job under rather different circumstances.
“There were a lot of regulations put in place in order to keep all of the staff and patients very safe, including wearing a face mask and wearing different PPE for each patient.
“With everything that was going on, I noticed that patients coming in were quite anxious so putting their nerves at ease quickly became an important part of my role.
“I don’t think Covid-19 has particularly affected my role as I haven’t experienced working without all of these measures, so for me, this is just a normal way of working.”
Phoebe’s day-to-day responsibilities include carrying out electrocardiograms (ECG) on patients who have been suffering from any cardiac-related symptoms.
“I really enjoy using all of the equipment at work because it is very interesting to see the different ways in which the heart works.
“I am learning a lot with the help from the cardiac physiologists and I am very excited to see how my career within the cardiac investigations unit progresses in the future.”
