I don’t know if this is different from last time, but nurses care for you. There are plenty of Nurse Practitioners, Nurses, and Care Assistants (Nurse Techs). Most of your contact in the hospital will come from a pair of people who will dispense your medications and help with bodily fluids over a 12 hour shift.
For the most part, you might see a Nurse Practitioner once a day; they make the plan. The nurse carries it out. The care assistant fills in gaps.
Nurse practitioner removes the chest tubes. The nurse practitioner is paired with a team. Nurses removed the v wires for the temporary pace maker I had. Usually they would assisted by another nurse.
A nurse or nurse tech would/could remove a failing IV line after 4 days. They might also give you a bath.
I also dealt with Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy. Occupational comes form activities that “occupy” your day, not from the usual sense of your job. OT taught me to wipe my butt a new way to conform to sternal precautions. And how to shower. Very helpful young man named Henry.
PT checked that I could walk up stairs. Gave me a light exercise program. Reinforced the sternal precautions.
https://www.verywell.com/sternal-precautions-2696084
In ICU you have one nurse who stays with you, more or less in your room, at all times. They seem super capable. My day nurse is in training to become a Nurse Practioner, which in WA, as of 2014, requires a doctorate degree.
