Organ Retrievals with CCU Nurse Shane

Our first ever guest on the podcast is not only a dear friend of ours, but has maybe one of the coolest nursing jobs we've ever heard of!! 

Shane is a Heart Failure CN who, as part of his role, retrieves organs for transplantation 

In this episode, Shane gives us an incredible insight into what his role involves - from private jets, to Bunnings eskies and some vulnerable human moments of this life changing job. 

No offence to our other episodes, but we think this is the BEST episode we've done - she's a must listen!

Got a topic or question that you want answered on the podcast? 

Send them through to nursesibs@gmail.com or on Instagram directly to Nurse Sibs 

For the latest podcast news, be sure to follow @nursesibs on Instagram

Transcript

SPEAKER_07 0:00

My name is Georgia. I'm one of the co-hosts here on the Vitally Unstable podcast, and I begin today's episode by acknowledging the Aboriginal and Torres Rate Islander peoples as the traditional owners of the lands we record on. I pay my respects to elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Rate Islander people today. Always was, always will be.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

I was surprised when I did the first few. I was like, oh the esquis are for the ice to keep the solutions that we bring with us frozen and cold, blah blah blah. And then on the first few retrievals, when we got the actual organs out on the back table in the theatres, they just triple bag them in the sterile field. And then we just dig a well in the ice mound in the Fummings Eski and place the organs in the Fummings Eski.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

And I'm like, What? Seriously?

SPEAKER_07 0:51

Did you get some server lights on your way here? Yeah. What was I meant to do?

SPEAKER_04 0:55

Hello everyone, welcome back to the Vitally Unstable podcast. We have a pretty special episode for you guys today. Our first guest that we are interviewing. Uh yeah, woo-hoo! Close, close, close. Snaps for Shane. Georgia, would you like to introduce our guest?

SPEAKER_07 1:14

Absolutely. So our very first podcast guest is one of my besties, Shane. He is obviously also a nurse. It's not just like a random like ring-in situation. We think he's gonna have um a lot of like cool things to share with you. So, Shane, welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_07 1:33

Thank you for being here in our very professional studio.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

On the bed.

SPEAKER_07 1:37

On the bed.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

Not what it's the best. It's better than most tea rooms.

SPEAKER_07 1:44

Literally, no, with those like crusty old chairs. And no windows. No windows, no fresh air, no food, no water.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

And your body nurse being like, oh, can you come back out? Your patient's buzzing.

SPEAKER_07 1:57

I haven't urinated for seven hours, Tracy.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

Well, I'm buzzing now.

SPEAKER_07 2:04

Oh my gosh. Okay, so yes. We have Shane here on our very first podcast episode. And the reason that I wanted to get him on is him and I have actually worked together for like a lot of our career. He was part of my grad year, um, part of my first arrest, which is like, I don't know, a weird thing to a bonding moment. A joint one moment, yes. Um, but you also have a really cool job. So I'm gonna actually get you to tell everyone about your job instead of me.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

Okay. Uh well for the past like decade I was in CCUs, and that's pretty much all my career, so I've only ever really done cardiology. That's all I know. Very niche skills, but uh now I've shifted into uh a clinic role, uh, predominantly outpatient-based, and basically uh whether it's face-to-face outpatients or telehealth uh outpatients, basically just monitoring uh advanced heart failure patients at home, seeing how their uh symptoms are, um escalating and in uh applying interventions if needed, um, a lot of education, sort of set them up to be like like the goal is to be self-managing at home uh because I do fall under a hospital avoidance program. That's my role.

SPEAKER_07 3:22

Um don't come and hang out with us, and it's like you really, really have to.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

You better be drowning, Susan. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 3:30

Don't tell me you're drinking 1.5 litres. I know you're lying. I know you're lying to me, Susan.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

It's giving 2.75.

SPEAKER_07 3:37

I see those legs go off.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

Leg six, mmm. I hardly know lying. I'll be the judge of that. Um but uh yeah, a lot of it's also um inpatient education for new heart failure patients. Uh obviously there's a lot for them to learn, so uh I'm just sort of rolling into to wards and CCUs and all that uh having a chat to them about sort of heart failure and giving them the basics. Obviously, you don't want to overwhelm them too much. Yeah. Um, but another part of the role that I wasn't aware of uh when I actually applied for it. Classic, massive. Yeah, I know, we love that. Yeah, I definitely tried the entire opposite. But um because the hospital I work at in Brisbane uh is the heart and lung transplant centre for Queensland, Northern Territory, and parts of northern New South Wales as well. Yeah, cool, just because of distance uh is retrievals uh and so cool uh for organs. So uh obviously we only uh procure heart and lungs uh in our role, and then um yeah, my my specific sort of uh role within retrievals is uh perfusion nurse. So my job is to uh fly out to wherever the donors are um across Australia or New Zealand. Um yeah, roll into theaters. Yeah, that's a real setup. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And wow, like we can share organs. Yeah, uh, it's a reciprocal health service. Yeah, that's so cool. Um, but yeah, help help set up uh in theaters. Uh we have a scrub nurse, that's one of the other uh part of the teams, and they're obviously scrubbed in and helping the cardiothoracic surgery with the uh opening and extracting. But um my job is to sort of liaise at the recipient end, like this is where we're up to, uh, and help with like the solutions that we bring to help uh suspend the organs.

SPEAKER_07 5:37

Wow, that's so cool. Because there's obviously so much like coordination involved in timing, right? Yeah. Yeah, like communicating with like teams to be like, yeah, we've got this at this time, or yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

And it it's uh both like basic stuff of like we've just arrived at the donor hospital or we're setting up in theatre now, but it would also be very specific things like knife to skin was this time, uh you know, accepted organs was at this time, and blah blah blah blah. And we're just sort of keeping the other end up to date because obviously it has to it's such a timed thing perfectly that like when we arrive back at the hospital with the organs, the recipient obviously needs to be waiting with their old heart out. Yep, and just put the new one out of cavity waiting, yeah, which is why no pressure. No, no, no, no. Um, but it's very well orchestrated. Um and so far I've never seen really any major hitches. Yeah, considering there's so many moving parts that can go wrong.

SPEAKER_04 6:41

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I feel like this is like why we really wanted to interview you as well, because like this is such a unique role.

SPEAKER_07 6:47

Like, I feel like I also love that you didn't realise that was part of your job.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

Yeah. Um let me check my puzzle, like do you have an ASCII? Yeah, just a Yaddy Asky, like Tolly Ben.

SPEAKER_04 7:02

Yeah, um, but yeah, I feel like I've not met anyone before who's worked in a role like that. And I feel like for our listeners, this is like super cool to hear about stuff like this.

SPEAKER_07 7:14

Yeah. Because like, how did you obviously I know, but like, and it kind of sounds like maybe you accidentally got into that role, but like how like what was like the start of your career to like get you to like where you are now?

SPEAKER_04 7:28

Yeah, for as you might want to do it, like how do you how did you kind of like get to this point?

SPEAKER_02 7:33

To the heart failure nursing stuff?

SPEAKER_07 7:35

Yeah, or yeah, so well like you're obviously like a very skilled, like I know that you're a very skilled, very intelligent, very skilled nurse to be able to do like any job that you've ever done, obviously. But like I just feel like yeah, that retrievals like element, you know, they I feel like they wouldn't just give that to any like Tom, Dick, and Harry.

SPEAKER_02 7:53

Yeah, I I actually thought about this when I uh got into it. Obviously, it was just written into the role uh for my uh particular role within the half-A service. Um but uh there is actually open to anyone who's uh willing to do it uh because they obviously need a lot of numbers of people trained up to do it uh because they're obviously and it has happened, there can be multiple organ retrievals happening simultaneously. And if you've only got one team rostered on at a time and a second organ comes up for offer, then you're just a bit stuck.

SPEAKER_07 8:26

Yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_02 8:27

Um so at our hospital particularly it's uh it's open to to anyone, but primarily people who uh have a little bit of experience, maybe some surgical sort of experience or like um experience handling things aseptically. Yeah, true. Uh which I guess like yeah, and it's kind of like I don't know, the best analogy I can think of is you know when you're setting up a uh an art line in the CCU, you know how to open things without contaminating them, etc. So like that kind of stuff helps. But at the same time, a lot of it's like you get training on the job as you go.

SPEAKER_07 9:08

That's so cool, and the training's pretty pretty extensive.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

Like you you obviously just shadow someone for a couple of uh retrievals and then you slowly start participating, and then the reins get slowly shifted over to yourself, and then when you feel ready, yeah, they send you out on your own.

SPEAKER_07 9:24

Wow, that would be so cool, but so stressful, I feel.

SPEAKER_04 9:27

Yeah, so do you guys like liaise with RFDS, or how do you how does the air travel work?

SPEAKER_02 9:33

So uh RFDS is reserved for patient transport only. Okay, um, a lot of RFDS is choppers as well, yeah. Um so we can't use that because choppers are too slow. So if we were to to travel to any city, say Perth, because it's you know six hours flight away, yeah. Um you'd have to use a jet. Yeah. So uh particularly in uh Queensland Health where I work, uh, we commission private jets.

SPEAKER_07 10:02

I was literally about to be like, I feel like you're about to tell us that you get on private jets.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

We do, because we have to like uh commission a jet at like 2 a.m.

SPEAKER_05 10:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

And there is a company that I know uh the uh health service uses um for for anything, you know, even outside of retrievals, if something needs to happen quickly, um and it's just some sort of agreement they have, and we can just call someone up that's on call.

SPEAKER_07 10:26

Okay, babe, it's me again. I need the jet.

SPEAKER_02 10:29

Oh, I'm not even kidding. I've heard stories where we've had multiple uh retrievals on and we've already commissioned one jet, so we used the Premier's jet. Oh my god. You best believe we took those snacks.

SPEAKER_04 10:46

That must feel that must feel like you know, like so important. Like how how does it feel like kind of rocking up to the airport?

SPEAKER_07 10:55

Like, it's giving like it's giving like men in black, you know, like walk down the airport like the tarmac, like rip off the sunny.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

Um I think when I was training and it was new to it, my mind was just like, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, like what do I need to do?

SPEAKER_07 11:15

I just realized.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

Um I think my head was more just like concerned about like not you know missing a step in the uh surgical part of things and like learning what to do in this role, particularly, and you obviously your mind's a little bit uh busy with that, but uh I s now that I'm like in it, in it, um I obviously can just relax that part of my brain and just enjoy and be present. I do I'm a bit of an av geek, so I do have a little geek out moment to play it. But I also have a moment where I feel like like you know what, this is a private jet. I'm just gonna pretend that I'm like famous and rich.

SPEAKER_03 11:54

And I'm like, oh my god, I'm just getting on my private jet and flying across the country. Sorry, no one can contact me.

SPEAKER_07 12:00

Yeah, no one can contact me, no one can know where I'm going. Like I'm like a I'm a really big deal.

SPEAKER_02 12:06

Yeah. But basically I just sit there, sleep, and flog all of the snacks from the little mini bar.

SPEAKER_04 12:13

Yeah, I guess I didn't even I didn't even think about because I guess you know, we know about like cold chain with like blood products and stuff, but like you can imagine what it would be like with organs, because it's like insanely precious and quite valuable resource. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:29

That like it is quite interesting the way that they sort of get the organs, but then the transport of the organs is another thing. Yeah, I thought it like uh this is not to downplay it, because obviously it's amazing and and very, like you said, very precious. But um I was surprised when I did the first few. I was like, oh the esquis are for the ice to keep the solutions that we bring with us frozen and cold, la la la. And then on the first few retrievals when we got the F4 organs out on the back table in theatres, they just triple bag them on in the sterile field, and then we just dig a well in the ice mound in the Bumming's eski and place the organs in the Bumming's eskey.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

And I'm like, what? Seriously?

SPEAKER_07 13:18

Did you get some servo ice on your way here? Like, what was I meant to do? They're like, yeah. Like, what are we gonna put in the bunnings eskey?

SPEAKER_02 13:24

Can I put the the paper collar that I just took from the plane in there too? It's gotten a bit warm.

SPEAKER_04 13:29

Similar to when you go to like a house party and you're like digging. Yeah. I still try what you're doing.

SPEAKER_03 13:36

Don't worry about that, that's just a heart.

SPEAKER_07 13:39

I've got the back of my dig under the heart, you find my snacks. And I was like, what?

SPEAKER_02 13:45

Wow. It is pretty cool.

SPEAKER_07 13:48

Um I love I love like weird, funny things like that interesting where you're like, oh, you would think that this is like the most like intricate thing, like, no, I just chuck it in the SV.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

And it'll be so formal, like how they transport things. But recently, the uh hospital I work at uh they have commissioned um XV Mode, which is uh the heart in the box, and basically it's um slightly warmed uh a mixture of blood products and the suspension solution that we use. Uh, and like this in the solution that we use, it's very hyperkalemic, but it also has other properties in it that drop the metabolic rate of the tissues, whether it's the heart or the lung. So that obviously your schemia is reduced while you're in transit and there's no blood perfusing through the organ if you're doing cold transport. Um but ex vivo allows you to like uh partially plumb the organ and it slightly warms up blood and the suspension solution and keeps moving it through. Wow to hopefully keep the coronary arteries like perfused uh with blood a bit to sort of try and keep blood flowing through the actual organ itself. Yeah, but the the purpose of that is that it can stand out, it can extend our travel time. So you've got four hours at maximum on ice, yeah, where you can extend it up to eight or even twelve hours in the box.

SPEAKER_07 15:14

Wow. Yeah and they've just started using that kind of recently, or they just use it sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

Yeah, I mean we've only recently just started getting it because the actual um uh the product, the box itself is quite uh expensive, as you can imagine. Yeah. There's only a few companies in the world that make these boxes, so they can obviously name their price. Yeah, but the consumables, like the you know, the circuits and everything, uh like I think it's almost like fifty thousand dollars per retrieval.

SPEAKER_07 15:43

Um I don't know why I'm thinking of the box in um Pirates of the Caribbean.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

You know, it's got a heart in the slogan.

SPEAKER_07 15:51

That's ever since you started talking about this, I was like because it kind of looked like a treasure chest, and could you put instead of in the treasure chest, couldn't you put the heart in a jar of dirt?

SPEAKER_02 16:00

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:00

A jar of dirt thing.

SPEAKER_07 16:01

A jar of dirt, right?

SPEAKER_02 16:02

And you have to say some incantation to get it going again. Yeah, literally. Um but yeah, it's it's we only reserve that for like like long haul, so if we don't need to, we won't use it, obviously, because it's so expensive, but that's pretty cool. And that looks a lot more legit than the SCP!

SPEAKER_04 16:25

Wow, so like is it ever challenging? Because like I can imagine that sometimes it takes like a full day to like essentially go to the place to retrieve it and then get back, right?

SPEAKER_02 16:38

Yeah, um challenging mostly because most of the time you're on call. Uh in my particular hospital, you're on call for 24 hours, so it's 7 a.m. to 7am. Right. Um, and most people like are working during the daytime while they're on call. Yeah, how does that work? Yeah, and then uh some people do it on their days off as well, um, but most of the time you get called out during the night. Yeah. Uh and you've already been to work, you've probably had like three or four hours sleep, you get called out, and on average, from my experience, um I'd say each retrieval takes about 14 hours, sometimes 16, depending on like the flight time required. Um yeah, it can really add up.

SPEAKER_06 17:26

Now why do you need those snacks? I'll be playing. Oh yeah, you need the plain snacks.

SPEAKER_02 17:30

Um so it can be challenging in terms of like exhaustion, um, but it can also be challenging emotionally because you obviously gotta like it's a it's a very double-edged sword kind of thing here. You know, one person's life has to end for two, three, for even four people's lives to be changed. Um and and part of the perfusion role is um like you have to squeeze uh the solution called custodial, which is what we use to suspend the heart in, and it's uh a very hypotonic, sorry, hyperclean and hypertonic solution. But that basically arrests the heart. So I unalive them. Right. And you're like usually after many hours have passed and you're like so exhausted, and then you're watching because as you're squeezing, you have to make sure you're squeezing hard enough that no blood's tracking up the uh giving set.

SPEAKER_05 18:24

Right.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

But you have to keep squeezing and squeezing until uh you know the sinus rhythm turns to this horrific sine wave. Yeah, of course, and then you just see VF and then it uh systole. Yeah, and then you can just relax after asystole. And I'm like, oh wild that just ended someone's life, which is like obviously everything against what we do in medicine of you know, like saving lives and uh improving lives, but um, yeah, but at the same time you have to keep remembering, and this is where it's like that double-edged sword. Yeah, this patient is brain dead, yeah. They're already past, yeah. Uh just like the shell is still operating. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 19:09

And these were their wishes. Yeah, exactly. So an organ donut is something that you have to like, yeah, it's like a very official formal thing. So like this is literally what they wanted. Yeah, yeah. Um, and they are you know genuinely saving or dramatically improving someone else's life by doing that. Yeah. Wow, that must have been so confronting the first time. I can't imagine coming to work and being like, oh, so in this part of your job that you actually didn't know that you were gonna do, also, I'm gonna give you all this bag of stuff. You're gonna see your worst nightmare on a like the telemetry or kind of monitoring and you just have to just lock in. Like I would be like, I'm sorry, what and you want me to do what?

SPEAKER_02 19:51

You just imagine like a 10-year CCU nurse watching a sine wave and VS and I'm not reacting.

SPEAKER_07 19:58

You're like, so am I do I jump on the chest? Wait, we want this? We want this. I thought we didn't want that. Your whole world just like flipped upside down.

SPEAKER_04 20:07

Wow, I know maybe it's because I've not had much to do with transplant before, but like I yeah, that even to me, like you saying that, like, that's just wild. I never knew that was a part of the process.

SPEAKER_02 20:20

I suppose even like when you work in medicine, you you get exposed to like lots of things about you know different departments and different specialties and how they do things. Um, but you know, transplantation is not something you really get exposed to much. So you would have like a a slight idea, but until you're actually in it in it, you wouldn't see the ins and outs and all the how it's actually done until you get into it, which is obviously my experience.

SPEAKER_07 20:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:45

And I'm like, oh gosh.

SPEAKER_07 20:47

Well, yeah, because like we've obviously worked together in because correct me if I'm wrong, there's three transplant hospitals, no heart transplant hospitals in Australia. Yeah. So we've worked together now in two of them.

SPEAKER_03 20:59

Yes, we have.

SPEAKER_07 21:00

Um but like even for me, like so. I worked there for that year of my grad year with you and obviously worked with transplant patients, so I feel like I understand it from that regard a little bit, definitely not to your extent, but then also my mum had a lung transplant, so I understand it from the patient side as well. But even with those two experiences, like I definitely don't understand it like fully to like the depths that you do because you're literally there, yeah, like when everything that needs to happen is happening, and like you you like your lit your literal hands play such a key role in that process all happening. Like it's just yeah, transplants are just wild in themselves.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

Yeah, it's and it's I think the most like amazing part of it for me, once everything's finished and you have time to like think about it is that the moment uh donate life contact uh the recipient hospital. And obviously in these circumstances we're the recipient hospital to say, Hey, um, there's a heart on offer in this city that is a match for one of your waitlist patients. From that moment to you handing off, you know, in in theaters the the procured organ. Literally. Um that you know, so much organization has happened. You know, a team of people from all walks of life have just been thrusted into this private jet, jetted across the country, and then just sort of spew into this theatre and then just do this very, you know, niche kind of surgery. Um, and then you know, you basically escort organs back, uh, and then you pass it off, and then another marathon is uh begun there where you know the implanting surgeon then ha has the uh the task of putting it and into the the recipient and and you know anastomosing all of the vital bits and then to get it going again um because it's obviously been arrested and frozen for transit. Um like and then at the end of that whole process, just so much has happened and it can it's all within the 24-hour period. Yeah, it's pretty wild. You're like, oh, I can't believe so much of that has happened when you think about how long it takes to get discharge medicines for fun things.

SPEAKER_04 23:27

Yeah, I know when when we need to, we can organize it. Really pull it to quickly, right? And very well.

SPEAKER_07 23:33

This is also like the thing that like the general public don't understand about like ED when they're like, I waited six hours for this route. I'm like, bro, if you needed us to do something immediately, it would happen. That's what we do, that's what we do in our jobs, right?

SPEAKER_04 23:48

But yeah, that's yeah, because even like I was thinking, so do you usually go to is it like a mix of rural and metropolitan like places where the you know you get the donors and stuff?

SPEAKER_02 23:59

So it's only metropolitan hospitals. So the the um criteria for donor is uh brain dead, yeah. Uh confirmed by three ICU consultants. Um obviously you have to do like a full CT to check that the organs are viable. Um but obviously the the the donor has to pass and be pronounced brain dead in ICU. Okay. So if a if a patient uh was to pass in the community, we can't obviously take anything because it's ischemic time starts the moment.

SPEAKER_07 24:35

Oh I've never thought of that.

SPEAKER_02 24:37

So the patient has to pass in hospital. Wow. And and obviously that way that they're ventilated and circulation is um uh continuous. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 24:49

Um in my mind, you were like going into like out to like Uluru and you're like on a dirt road and like no wow, okay.

SPEAKER_02 24:58

Um and it's also because of theaters. So you obviously need to have uh an operating theatre to procure the organ. Um depending on the pathway, because there's two pathways for um donation, um death by brain death or death by circulatory death. Um obviously you can either for the brain death you can choose the moment that the the patient's uh no longer circulating, or it's up to the patient. Um, you know, we draw cares and then wait for them to naturally pass, but um obviously they have to come from an ICU to a um to the theaters.

SPEAKER_06 25:38

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 25:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:40

Have you ever uh I don't know if this is sorry, but this may be a silly question, but has there ever been like an issue at a hospital in terms of trying to organise a theatre? Like do you ever ever get pushback or is it like oh this is a priority?

SPEAKER_02 25:52

Not in terms of like theatre space. I've never experienced that. Yeah, thankfully there's a whole nother person uh person's role back at the uh recipient hospital. Um and their job is coordinating, so they're the ones that organise the planes and the buses and all that kind of stuff for us. Um they're the ones that liaise for theatres and stuff as well, excuse me, and donate life. So there's always a coordinator from Donate Life, who is the national uh organization um that deal with like uh donor lists, as in like so when you register as a donor, you're donor uh you're registering with Donate Life. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they manage all the donors and and all the matching up of things, etc.

SPEAKER_07 26:36

So um because there's a lot to do with like yeah, you know, the size, like size, like a physical size, yeah. That seems like a bit of a silly thing, but like the physical organs obviously have to fit into the physical body. So like the size of someone, like you think of like my mum, she's not a very big person, so like she wouldn't get lungs from like a six-foot-tall man, she would get lungs from would have got lungs from someone who is physically smaller, so like that's what donate life. Correct me if I'm wrong, but they do to help too, like there's so many things that need to line up that you get like are the right organs, the right donor, the right match.

SPEAKER_02 27:18

Like, yeah, that's just I just there's a lot of uh uh miracles that need to happen there uh for for for a match. Um but yeah, size is one of them. Um it's an and then it's like blood type, tissue type, yeah, CMV mismatch, um all those kind of things. Um and then yeah, a big one's size.

SPEAKER_07 27:38

Yeah, yeah. Which yeah, like seems pretty basic, but it obviously makes sense that like if it's not gonna fit if the key don't fit, don't just jam it in. You can't just like shave it. Yeah, no. So they're gonna give you half a heart. Um, I feel like I've learned so much. I know, same. I have like a probably a cliche like question, but like what's your favourite part and your least favourite part of the job?

SPEAKER_02 28:06

Uh least favourite part, I'd probably say probably just the call sometimes, because you're often often asleep. Excuse me. Uh, but obviously at the same time you're like, oh well, this is part of the role and it's quite, you know, uh incredible being a part of that. Um but most of the time you're pretty exhausted and it's yeah, it jolts you out of bed, and you're like, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_07 28:30

Um it's like being on call for STEMI, it's like you know you're not on call to having fun, you're on call for something bad.

SPEAKER_02 28:35

Yeah. Uh and obviously the the the emotional component of unaliving uh humans, uh that's not the greatest. But I'd say the most enjoyable part is um or the pot most positive is it seems it's it's positive, but it's also very anticlimatic, passing off the organ when you get to theatres because it's kind of like this I don't know how to describe it, but you you walk up to theatres and you just see the team of people standing there around the table, and they're all just waiting for you, and everyone's faces just like the eyes light up, and and then you hand off the organ and everyone just has this little bow of like respect to you because you've just spent the last 16 hours retrieving the organs, and then they're like, Oh my gosh, it actually arrived. Yeah, um, and then you you kind of just like I don't work in surgery uh or any surgical uh area of the hospital. I have zero surgical skills, and then all of a sudden they're like, Can you just go like quickly do that surgery in birth? And I'm like, wait, what? Sorry what um but yeah, getting the hand handed off and then leaving uh straight after you hand it off, obviously that's the anticlimatic part, but um you go away thinking like I know I'm not really like a major part of it, like I'm not the actual surgeon doing it, but I was part of it. And without me it probably wouldn't have been as smooth. Yeah. Um, so you do leave that that retrieval and leaving the hospital being like, wow, I was just part of something pretty cool. Yeah, that's something doesn't happen every day.

SPEAKER_07 30:14

Yeah, yeah. So that's yeah, that's it's so unique, and like even when you said that like they give you a little bow, like I got the goosebumps. I was like, that's just such a beautiful like sign of like respect and appreciation for something that is like huge. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:32

Like it's you know and that's I think that's happened a few times for me. Uh if like it's it's everything's running to to plan. Um but sometimes you uh if it's running late, like we were delayed for some reason, there's been some issue on transport with the organs or something like that. Often you just meet the the holding bay nurse who's really like, get rid of the organs, go! And I'm like, oh gosh. Where have you been?

SPEAKER_03 31:03

We've been waiting 15 hours.

SPEAKER_02 31:06

I'm like, um, okay, you're a bow.

SPEAKER_07 31:09

I think what you mean to say is thank you. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 31:13

Oh gosh. And then I don't really see anything after that. I don't just have the have it snatched out of my hands, and I'm like, okay, babe, I'm spy.

SPEAKER_07 31:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:23

You have fun, you have fun with that.

SPEAKER_07 31:26

And then, like, are you still then expected like because you said right at the start that the the main primary part of your role that you did know about is all of your like heart value education, home support and all that stuff. So like I assume there's like a team of you, and then obviously if someone gets called and then someone else like because you wouldn't go to work after your 16-hour.

SPEAKER_02 31:46

Oh no, no, no. Obviously, if you're if your 16 hours finishes at like you know 2 pm and we work till 4, you're not expected to work the lot the rest of you, you're just fatigued. Um But yeah, usually people sort of band in to cover your role as much as you can um while you're off on a retrieval. Uh not to downplay my role and uh you know what I contribute to the outpatient health service. But um if I'm away for one day, you know, it's not the end of the world, it won't compromise patient safety to any degree or to you know uh a a large degree. But um, if there's anything critical, obviously, you know, one of my colleagues can help out, but um the phone calls get delayed a day. Yeah uh and you know the patient didn't get education before they left the hospital. I can do it when they get cold, like it's it's okay. Yeah, um and and you know, comparing it to like an inpatient nurse, obviously that you know you've got to maintain ratios, whereas we don't have ratios, so it's it's not terrible that I'm gone. Yeah, um, but yeah, it's it's a lot. Yeah, it is very interesting though. Like I was the same as you, uh, you know, hearing about it the first time and seeing it for the first time, it's almost like you're a grat again. Yeah, I'm like, oh my gosh. Like when I started this uh halfway role, it was my tenth year of nursing. Wow. And I'm like, oh yeah, I'm that old chooky battle axe nurse that's uh plan it off.

SPEAKER_05 33:20

Yeah, let me tell you.

SPEAKER_02 33:23

No, that's not how I stood. Yeah, but um I rolled into this uh retrieval stuff like completely new, and I feel like a grat again, and it definitely re-ignites that fire and that passion for kind of health care. Because you do get a bit jaded after a while. You do get a little bit sort of uh you know, run down and you lose that fire and that drive and the passion, and you're like, oh my gosh, the monotony of this is really starting to bump me out. But then you get something like that, and it's like obviously so crazy. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 33:59

Yeah, yeah. Oh my gosh! Yeah, we've both experienced that, like, you know, even though like I love cardiology, yeah. There's been times where I'm like, what is it? What do we got? Chest pain, short of the breath, like half an hour. You got chest pain name. Let me guess, uh what no pacemaker in, let me guess, complete another block, pacemaker, no more complete hard block, you know, like it just gets a bit like you've been like that with ED. So yeah, I can definitely see how yeah. Oh honey, we don't need to be.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

I mean good for it, yeah. Like don't put it there. Oh god.

SPEAKER_07 34:41

Oh god, but yeah, like it does get things do get mundane and boring, even things like that, which should not be mundane or boring.

SPEAKER_02 34:49

Yeah, the desensitization to horrific things is real. Yeah, I think that's a whole thing though with like psychology of healthcare professionals.

SPEAKER_05 35:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:00

Is is learning like to identify burnout, but also when you start to get to that point where you know upsetting or obviously insane things just don't even phase you. Yeah. Yeah. You're like, oh, yeah, that far gone. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:16

Am I broken? Do I need annually?

SPEAKER_07 35:19

Yeah. Do I need to male? Yes, the answer is always yes. Very cute. But yeah, I I think that's amazing that like you're like, yeah, that you got that experience quite I would say like late in your career, but like, you know, I haven't even been a nurse for ten years. Uh and I feel like Yeah. I just think it's cool that like you got to do something that made you feel that way again. Like it made me feel like, oh, I'm like I feel a little bit out of my depth here, but it's like a good challenge. Yeah. Um and what a cool thing to do, like organ retrieval.

SPEAKER_04 35:53

Yeah, I think we've touched on this topic a little bit before in previous episodes of you know feeling super burnt out, or not burnt out, but just like tired, and like, you know, everything you do in terms of like any sort of specialty setting can become like somewhat repetitive, whether it's like cardiology or emergency or ICU, like eventually you're kind of looking after the same sort of stuff. And then I feel like doing something unique, like your like you know, your transplant role can just like bring all those rewarding feelings right back.

SPEAKER_02 36:23

Yeah, you know, it is pretty cool, and this is the great thing about nursing as a career is that there's a million and one roles out there. Um, so you know, once you do get to that like oh, I've had my fill of this, or there's nothing new, and you do get a little bit like I don't know if that's a formal phrase for this, but I just call it like professionally bored.

SPEAKER_04 36:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:47

But do you know what I mean? I when I say professionally bored, like you've done the things. Um, but that's the thing about nursing, is that once you reach that moment, you kind of like you can find something different.

SPEAKER_07 37:00

There's always a different way to do it. I feel like I've said this a million times. I do find set feel like I sound like a broken record, but there is so many different ways you can do nursing, different obviously there's different roles, there's yeah, I don't know, it's just like such a good career for people like us who do get bored easily and can be like, well, I feel like I've maxed out in this one area. I feel really good with that, but now I want like a new challenge. Yeah, yeah. Because I feel and I feel like maybe some people miss that boat sometimes, and then they stay in a thing for like 20, 30 years, and they're so professionally bored and maybe a little bit jaded and a little bit like No, I don't cannulate.

SPEAKER_02 37:39

Oh okay. I go for my morning tea at 10am every day. Oh but your patience currently arresting.

SPEAKER_07 37:51

Your mackle. Yeah, it's your mackle. Yeah, yeah. I'm not I'm not doing it for you. It's your like, I'm out of here.

SPEAKER_02 37:57

But sure, go for your tea. Um we'll cover this.

SPEAKER_07 38:01

We'll cover this, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:02

But yeah, like I agree. Like, I obviously have moved into more of an education-based role at the moment, and I thought I was really gonna miss emergency, and there definitely is parts that I do miss about emergency care, but there's like parts of like delivering education to groups of people that I now find so rewarding, and it gives me that same sort of feeling again of like, oh, like I love this job, yeah. I love nursing, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 38:28

Um, because I was like, Which is great, you were so burnt in. That last contract we did, I'll never forget it. It was like that last shift that we did together uh last year, and it was like 2 a.m. and like someone just like presented to ED. So like not nothing bad, and Tom was literally like I was like, they're allowed to come to hospital, like I know you're not gonna do they're allowed to come. Like it probably wasn't something super dumb that people were like why are you here at 2am? But I was like, just like I could just hear it and feel it in every ounce of Tom's being. I was like, oh honey, you need to come off.

SPEAKER_02 39:08

Oh no. Honestly, though, I've been there. Uh more so like obviously I'm in the um CCU, so it's you know, you're already in the hospital system. But I swear to God like QAS rolling in at like five minutes, but it's not like one time, it's almost every time. And I'm like, So you brought them in like in the last 15 minutes of the shift? It's almost like you know when our shifts finish. And you bring them in, and then the oncoming nurse is like, Oh no, you have to get handover for them.

SPEAKER_04 39:43

And I'm like, what to tell you the story in 10 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 39:47

Did you do it a 48?

SPEAKER_04 39:49

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 39:50

Are you kidding me back?

SPEAKER_05 39:54

Did you do it for you?

SPEAKER_01 39:57

Let's go.

SPEAKER_07 39:59

That is fucking right now. They're like about how many steps do they have a hunger and fucking not?

SPEAKER_03 40:06

We haven't got a fucking tea.

SPEAKER_07 40:14

They're trying to die. I'm not doing the skin in the moment. I don't know how we just live them onto the catalog table because they were arrested. But do they have a walk on or what do they have? I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 40:36

Um is the 480 one of the 48s and 4Ts?

SPEAKER_07 40:40

Is it from a skin check.

SPEAKER_03 40:46

Check a skin. The skin's the reason for the back.

SPEAKER_07 40:49

On the cocksicks.

SPEAKER_02 40:53

Oh, there's no metal x.

SPEAKER_07 40:54

No metalx water. Not on the skin.

SPEAKER_02 40:57

That's your that's the reason they arrested. There you go.

SPEAKER_07 41:00

And if you had of like come to the hospital like 10 minutes earlier.

SPEAKER_02 41:05

And had a skin assessment in ED for the first four hours, would have been fine. I feel it.

SPEAKER_07 41:12

I feel that I feel that from Oh my wordy. Yeah, it's not good, not a vibe.

SPEAKER_02 41:18

No. Not fun nor fresh.

SPEAKER_07 41:19

I think what is fun and fresh though.

SPEAKER_02 41:21

Oh yes!

SPEAKER_07 41:22

Shane bought me Donate Life socks.

SPEAKER_04 41:24

Oh my god. I love them.

SPEAKER_07 41:26

I love them too.

SPEAKER_02 41:27

They're actually really good quality.

SPEAKER_07 41:28

Yeah, they look good. If they look good, they feel good.

SPEAKER_01 41:31

I can bring more.

SPEAKER_04 41:32

Is there any way that like people can donate to Donate Life, or is there like any fundraising that their company needs, or like shout outs or anything, or are they pretty like well?

SPEAKER_02 41:41

The the website for Donate Life has a lot of that info on it. I don't think they do a lot of public stuff. Right. Um and uh I I my understanding of Donate Life is it is a government body. Uh so most of the coordinators and uh I don't know, other specialists within Donate Life usually work through a hospital. Um and uh they they're sort of relative to organ systems. So there's like one coordinator for you know this hospital and this hospital that's sort out this particular organ donation process and then so on and so forth or other possible organs, but um yeah.

SPEAKER_07 42:23

Yeah, their website has like all their details, and it's probably you know, if you've never looked into organ donation, like just as a human being, not just like as a nurse, donate life is where to get all that information about registering for an organ don't like yeah, because you can't just you know just tick a box kind of thing. It's like a it's a it's just a little bit involved, but donate life's website is where all that information is. So you can check that out. Maybe on your break.

SPEAKER_02 42:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 42:50

A little bit of reading on your break.

SPEAKER_02 42:52

Exactly. It's sort of doing scrolling. Oh, I need that though. Yeah, I need to disconnect. Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_07 42:59

We go non-verbal a lot. I know. I'm like, no one talked to me.

SPEAKER_02 43:03

I just sort of give people the grunts when they talk to you, and I'm like, huh. When did you start your break? Because I came in ten minutes after you, and they're trying to figure out when their breaks up, and I'm like, huh.

SPEAKER_07 43:17

You're like, I don't know where I am right now, okay? What do you mean watch time? CS 13 dollars.

SPEAKER_02 43:22

In the break room, there's no windows, no clock. Like a casino.

SPEAKER_07 43:28

But you don't win anything.

SPEAKER_02 43:29

And why does it feed in here?

unknown 43:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:34

Um, but no, donate uh the organ donation is uh in Australia an opt-in process now, uh where it used to be an opt-out. Uh but also one thing to remember with uh becoming an organ donor is that you need to tell your family as well. Uh so that uh when it comes to consenting, uh obviously you can't do it if you're branded.

SPEAKER_05 43:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:57

You've already done it, but your family's on their consent. And then once that's signed, only then we can proceed. So if your family are unaware, they may say no. Yeah. And your choice to donate is uh deleted. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 44:15

Yeah, so that's why it's good to look on their website because they go over all the stuff to do with that and to make sure it's all valid and it can actually happen when the time, if and when the time comes. So yeah. That's amazing, Shane. Thank you for sharing everything with us about your job. Is there anything else, like any other little tidbits or things that you want people to know about your role, your job, you well, I didn't really talk much about my actual clinic role.

SPEAKER_02 44:43

Um I I mean, you can imagine outpatients, it's just lots of like checkups, yeah, reviewing medicines and whatnot. Um, but I mean I can harp on about that for a whole nother episode. Maybe you could do another episode. We're gonna do part two. So if you're uh a a cardiac nurse and you're thinking, you know, what do I do in ten years? It could be this, it could be working in clinics and you know, progressing towards heart failure nurse practitioner kind of roles as well, which is cool. Or you can become uh sort of like a general cardiology nurse practitioner. There's lots of avenues there now. Now that uh the world and medicine, you know, believes that we have brains. Yeah, what have it? No, I'll just go get the refreshments in the spring. Yeah, so I try to get the skin chat. The skin chat.

SPEAKER_07 45:39

That's what we're good for, baby.

SPEAKER_02 45:41

No, I can't, you know, review medicine.

SPEAKER_07 45:44

November, October.

SPEAKER_02 45:46

Honestly, I think I'd fail half of these questions, let alone Gladys who's 88. Raging e cole I U T.

SPEAKER_03 45:55

Can you tell me the age the can you tell me the months backwards?

SPEAKER_02 45:58

She's like, I can't even tell you who I am.

SPEAKER_07 46:01

She's like, I see spiders everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 46:04

They're coming out of your face.

SPEAKER_07 46:08

So, what is the 48? You're like, oh my god. Just let it go. Let it go. Let it go, Del.

SPEAKER_02 46:13

I can tell you from the end of the bed that she's crazy. She crazy. She knackers.

SPEAKER_07 46:18

I don't need to check those. Uh, she'll be fine.

SPEAKER_02 46:23

Get me pipes now.

SPEAKER_05 46:28

Oh love.

SPEAKER_04 46:30

Okay, yes, that was an amazing episode. Thank you again, Shane. We will definitely have you back. We've loved having you. I learned so much, so I'm sure a lot of people out there listening learned a lot as well.

SPEAKER_07 46:42

Yep, couldn't agree more. We would love to have you back. And maybe that you because you're gonna live here now.

SPEAKER_02 46:48

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_07 46:48

Shane's gonna be our roommate. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 46:51

Oh, the chats. We're gonna have to be very specific about like guys, no, no shop talk at all tonight. That's true.

SPEAKER_07 47:00

I didn't even think of this. Like, you could get called out from our home now. You will. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 47:05

You'll hear it. You'll hear my little breakdown of being forced out of bed at 2 a.m.

SPEAKER_05 47:12

Oh.

SPEAKER_07 47:14

I'm going to save lives, guys. Going to go to my private jet. Bye guys! Getting on my private jet now.

SPEAKER_03 47:23

I'll get you something named.

SPEAKER_07 47:24

Yeah. No, but for real, thank you so much for sharing everything. Like, we genuinely have loved having you on. Like Tom said, I learnt a lot. I'm sure other people learnt a lot. If you listening, learnt things, or have follow-up questions or anything, just like let us know because yeah, we can rope Shane into another episode. Dead off. So good fire. Well, with that being said, until next time, remember you are human first, nurse second. So leave the vital instability to us and make sure you're looking after yourself as well as you do your patients. Bye, Shane.

SPEAKER_05 47:56

Bye. Bye.