by Robin Leahy, MSPH, BSN, RN, FHRS, CCDS, PaceMate™ VP of Customer Experience
This week, PaceMate™ honors the incredible work of the nurses on our team. PaceMate™ nurses are on the frontlines of remote monitoring—giving daily support to device clinics and hospitals across the nation and caring for cardiac patients.
As a nurse, I am satisfied when I can make a difference in people’s lives. PaceMate™ allows me to do just that. Every day, I am gifted with the opportunity to watch over some of the most vulnerable individuals.
As a former device clinic nurse, I know firsthand how overwhelming the remote monitoring industry has become. It can be quite a challenge managing thousands of patients, some with alerts coming in daily, some who find comfort pressing their symptom button, and some who are not transmitting at all. There’s also the daily burden of patient calls, enrolling and unenrolling patients, and the hassle of trying to figure out billing and scheduling.
These patients deserve undevoted attention when it comes to their arrhythmias and how their devices are functioning. Through PaceMate™ I am able to focus all my attention on transmissions and leave other important details in the hands of our amazing communications team.
PaceMate™ is truly an astounding company with some of the most talented and passionate people around the world. I am thankful to the many clinics that allow us to help care for their patients.
I have been a nurse since 1993. While I was in nursing school, my forty-year-old father had open heart surgery after his first sudden cardiac arrest. I was fascinated with the entire process from that point on.
From cardiac critical care nursing, I moved into the lab and then CVICU. Later, I took an industry position as a cardiac rhythm management representative. My nursing practice has solely focused on CRM devices since 2006.
My father is still alive and well. He suffered another cardiac arrest in 2016 and received a cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D) at that time and has had one successfully treated ventricular fibrillation episode since he received the device.
I am currently heavily involved in the training of PaceMate™ customers and our internal staff. One of my passions is analyzing challenging and complex device transmissions. I am looking forward to presenting an abstract about a challenging transmission at the 2021 Heart Rhythm Society Scientific Session.
I love learning and graduated from the Good Samaritan School of Nursing, the University of Cincinnati (BSN), and Jacksonville University (MSN). I have had the privilege of presenting at conferences for Heart Rhythm Society, ANCC Magnet, and the American Association of Heart Failure Nurses. I also provide educational device monitoring webinars and serve as a volunteer for the Go Red Committee, the American Heart Association, and Melanoma Know More.
I began my nursing career as a surgical intensive care nurse, then moved to medical/surgical ICU and the operating room. But I found my passion in the electrophysiology department. As PaceMate™’s Director of Education, I am responsible for orienting new employees, holding weekly team meetings for continuing education, and investigating new workflows or learning pathways for customers and team members.
Working for a company that sees patients as the heartbeat of what we do is just one of the reasons I love working here. The excitement, energy, passion, and compassion of this team make working here phenomenal.
I have been an RN since 2003, beginning my career at the bedside in cardiothoracic for five years. I found my passion with electrophysiology and have never left.
Being a device nurse is a different kind of nursing. I love it for the technical component and all the cool things we can change to help a patient live better with their device.
My name is Chelsea, and I’m proud to be a nurse and a leader in a top healthcare technology company, PaceMate™. My work with PaceMate™ gives me the platform to be a strong advocate for improving quality care and impacting patient outcomes through disruptive technology.
In my role I guide health partners toward an integrated solution between technology, practice, and patient—enabling effective and efficient workflows to create an environment for quick adoption and best-practice care delivery.
My nursing career has taken a path I never would have anticipated as a young woman sitting in orientation for nursing school. Through a series of intentional and accidental events, I was brought into the PaceMate™ family in a hybrid role as both a Clinical Specialist and a Communication Specialist.
Since that time, I have been trusted to build a service line, participate in clinical and operations committees, travel for international conferences, and help shape the culture of a rapidly growing, preeminent market leader in digital healthcare.
When anyone asks me if I like what I do, my answer is ALWAYS that I caught the unicorn. I found a career where I am valued, fulfilled, and challenged. Nursing at PaceMate™ checks all the boxes my nursing school mentor listed as important in securing a “spiritual paycheck”: cross-discipline collaboration, evidence-based practice, patient-centered care, and making a difference in people’s lives.
I graduated from nursing school in 2009. And I never imagined that I could work as a nurse from home and still be helping people, but here I am at PaceMate™—doing just that! My nursing career started in neuro on the stroke floor. Then I found an interest in cardiac and moved to the cardiac step-down unit.
Since 2012, I have worked with cardiac devices. I love that it’s an ever-changing field and that we’re always improving things to help patients more and more. I have watched remote home monitoring take off in this field, and it’s so amazing. We really can and do catch things that prevent harm, prevent hospitalizations, and/or provide early treatment—all from the patient’s home.
PaceMate™ has given me the best opportunity to be home more. I can balance the working mom life now: I can be a mom and a nurse, and I can give both 100% of me. Thank you PaceMate™!