Staff Spotlight: In conversation with… Ciara Gorman, Sudden Cardiac Death/Arrest Co-ordinator

In this staff spotlight, we sat down with Ciara Gorman to chat about her journey into inherited cardiac conditions and what motivates her to establish a new pathway for her patients.

Can you tell us about your career journey so far?

I started my nursing career back in Ireland. After University, I began working in general medicine, but discovered I was particularly drawn to looking after cardiac patients.

Working in a big city was always on my wish list, so when an opportunity arose, I decided to make the move to London.  I spent several years working in Coronary Care in King’s College Hospital and loved it!. I cared for patients with a vast array of conditions including myocardial infarction, heart failure, and arrhythmia. I was fascinated with Arrhythmia interpretation and became a specialist Arrhythmia nurse. This led me to learn more about inherited cardiac conditions so when I spotted the job for Sudden Cardiac Death/Sudden Cardiac Arrest Co-ordinator, it felt like a natural next step.

What inspired you to work in your career path?

My path to inherited cardiac conditions was never set in stone. My interest developed gradually through caring for people with Arrhythmias. I found I wanted to know more and get a deeper understanding of why some people experience a sudden cardiac arrest or unexplained death, despite having little or no previous indication that they were at risk.

What particularly inspired me was the opportunity to not only support the patient, but also the wider family. Helping to identify inherited cardiac conditions can have a huge impact on both the patient and their relatives. In many cases it can prevent future catastrophic cardiac events. What could be a bigger inspiration than that?!

What does a typical day in your role look like?

This role is really different to any of my previous jobs. No two days are the same!

One day, I may be supporting a family whose relative has just had a sudden cardiac arrest. I co-ordinate the investigations, including genetic testing, and support the family as they are referred for further assessment and screening.

On another day, I could be working with the Coronial service following an unexplained cardiac death. We aim to create a pathway whereby coroners can refer directly into our service. This would mean that they retain a DNA sample from the person who has passed and then refer to our team. We would then make contact with the family to discuss genetic testing.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I love working with patients and families and being a consistent point of contact for them during what can be an incredibly different and uncertain time. It is really rewarding to guide families through what can initially feel like a very complex process and help them understand what happens next. Knowing that my work may also identify relatives who are at risk and enable them to receive appropriate screening and care makes the role particularly meaningful to me.

What are you most looking forward to in this role over the next year?

The goal is to embed and streamline the Sudden Cardiac Arrest and Sudden Cardiac Death pathways across the South East.

Key to that will be making the pathway as seamless as possible, so that eligible patients and families are identified and referred appropriately. To achieve that I am looking forward to strengthening the relationships between the many different teams involved.

What advice would you give to someone considering a career in your field?

My advice would be to take every opportunity possible to learn from patients and colleagues around you.

Experience in areas such as CCU, Arrhythmia and ICC can provide a really valuable foundation.

Seek out courses, study days and invest in some self -directed learning (the South East Genomic Medicine Service has a wealth of cardiac education on their website).

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. This is an area that is continuously developing, so being curious and a willingness to learn is key.

To find out more about our work to establish a Sudden Cardiac Death pathway visit here.