Perfusionist

Duties and Responsibilities:

They operate circulation equipment during medical situations when it is needed to temporarily and artificially replace the patient’s circulatory and respiratory functions. This happens during heart surgery and similar operations. They also control the temperature of patients during surgery. Some of their duties include operating heart lung machines, administering some types of anesthesia, and administering some types of medication.

Average Salary: $50,000

Education:

Students who would like to become a perfusionist require a high school diploma with a strong background in biology and chemistry to be accepted into training programs. Admission preference is given to those students with college science work or experience in respiratory therapy and medical terminology. The training programs vary in length however; the curriculum must include the supervised performance of 150 procedures and 20 infant and pediatric cases.   

I don’t think I would like to become a perfusionist  because it really don’t interest me and  because I think I rather work in a laboratory.