Photo courtesy of Carnival
Cruise Lines
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| Cruise
ship nurses typically come from emergency or critical
care backgrounds. (From left) Senior fleet physician
Iain Hamish MacLeod, MD, ship's nurse Marie France
Ouimette, RN, and lead nurse Katrina Smith from
Carnival Cruise Lines. |
On a typical shift, Melissa Holder, RN, sees patients
with colds and flu, chronic illnesses and an occasional
work-related injury. Sometimes, patients need X-rays.
After work, Holder completes paperwork and clips on
a pager, which sometimes summons her back for urgent
cases-all pretty typical for a nurse.
But Holder's days off are anything but typical.
She often catches a launch to shore for a few hours
of scuba diving, relaxing on the beach or shopping.
Holder is a lead nurse on the Carnival Ecstasy cruise
ship, sailing from Long Beach, Calif., to exotic ports
such as Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas in Mexico.
She's also been on Alaskan cruises and sailed out of
New York to Halifax and Nova Scotia in Canada.
"During the day, our infirmary runs like anything
from a doctor's office to an urgent care clinic to the
emergency room," Holder said. "The ship has
900 crewmembers and 2,500 passengers, so it's like a
small town. We're primary care for crew members.
"Outside main clinic hours are paperwork and clerical
duties. We don't have clerical staff. There are three
nurses. The day nurse works 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and another
nurse comes on from 5 to 8 p.m. The day nurse takes
call from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., then has the next day off.
Then you can go ashore, and there are lots of things
to do."
Holder frequently scuba dives in warmer locations.
On Alaskan tours, she has gone ice trekking and sea
kayaking. Groups of crew members often get together
and organize tours or go to dinner.
Susie Lilly, RN, is a lead nurse for Holland America
Line. "Nursing on a cruise ship is kind of like
frontier medicine. You don't have the ancillary personnel
on a ship. We're respiratory therapists, X-ray techs,
lab techs, critical care nurses and mother to about
700 crew. Anything can come through the doors-except
motor vehicle collisions, which are rare. The crew work
with different types of machinery and equipment, and
accidents can and do happen."
Cruise ship nurses are typically from emergency or
critical care backgrounds. Holland America nurses are
U.S. or Canadian licensed with at least four years of
ER, ICU or CCU experience, said Sally Van Boheemen,
head of Holland America's medical department, and most
nurses have 10 years of experience or more in emergency.
Full-time nurses are employees of the cruise line with
benefits, and work four months on and two off.
A minimum of five years of experience in emergency
or critical care is required at Vanter Cruise Health
Services, an Alexandria, Va.-based company that provides
health services for the cruise line industry, including
Disney Cruise Line. Vanter recruits from the United
States as well as other countries like Canada and the
United Kingdom. Nurses are independent contractors with
terms of one to six months.
"Typically, nurses do 16 weeks at a time, then
go off for a break and then come back on contract,"
said Patricia McAllister, vice president at Vanter.
"We have nurses who have been with us for three
or four years on repeated contracts."
Carnival Cruise Lines also hires predominantly from
the emergency department, said Steve Williams, director
of medical operations. The cruise line hires nurses
from England, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and
Europe, as well as from the United States. Salaries
aren't generally competitive with other nursing salaries
in the United States, Williams said, so a majority of
Carnival's nurses are from other countries.
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