st of clean and sterile environment of the surgery suite. The perfusionist must be physically capable of enduring long periods of boredom with brief period’s pure excitement. One must also be able to communicate well with others. Also there is many safety precautions that must be taken to so that the patients blood is not contaminated. (Workforce New Jersey Public Information Network) A perfusionist will generally work forty-hours a week. This does not include call time, which includes evenings, weekends and holidays. While on call the perfusionist may be called in to do an emergency procedure in the middle of the night, or may have to come in to monitor a patient who has just come out of surgery. This is why a perfusionist must be of the humanitary nature. The perfusionist must also be able to work well with other people, work well under high stress levels and be able to make the proper decisions. Day in and day out the perfusionist makes decisions that effect the patients life with no second chances. The average starting salary for a perfusionist is $72,800.00 a year. With experience the income moves up $81,000.00. (Workforce New Jersey Public Information Network) There are other ways to improve on the staring salary; one way is by being able to work in other areas of the medical field. Another way to increase ones salary is instead of working for a hospital one could work for an company that is contracted by a Hospital. Opportunities for the perfusionist are ever changing, what was common for the practicing perfusionist ten years ago is no longer the norm and what is the norm today will be outdated tomorrow....
