This week, we’re highlighting one of our ECMO Coordinators, Ruggero Bruzzone. He details his journey to work in ECMO, what a typical day looks like, and the benefits of this career field.
How long have you been an ECMO Coordinator, and which team are you currently on?
I’ll have been an ECMO Coordinator for five months in January. I was an ECMO Specialist for five years before accepting the ECMO Coordinator position with SpecialtyCare. I’m currently working in Jacksonville, FL.
What led you to become interested in ECMO, and can you describe the path you took to become a Coordinator?
At my previous facility, I began my career as a Pediatric/Neonatal Respiratory Therapist. A year into my new role, I was given the opportunity to work alongside ECMO Specialists, each with a wealth of knowledge in not only their fields but all the fields involved in the patient’s care. It was evident how much respect they had for their work, and it was even more apparent with all the positive patient stories centered around the care they were able to provide.
This led me to go through the facilities ECMO Specialist training course and take a full-time ECMO Specialist position. After being a specialist for a few years, I could begin working on more aspects outside direct bedside care. Understanding all the cogs that have to be in motion to maintain an ECMO program and give individuals the capacity to continue to provide excellent bedside care and monitoring was fascinating. I began to take on a supervisor role for a few years at my previous facility, which led me to take a Coordinator position with SpecialtyCare.