Role at UAB: Trauma Clinical Care Coordinator

Years of experience: 20 years, 18 at UAB

Describe your journey to your current role. "I thought I wanted to be a doctor, but I realized how much time they spend in school and how much of their life is involved with it once they are done with school. I wanted family to be more of a priority for me. Nursing is a flexible career to have a family as well. After graduation in 2002, I worked at Shelby Baptist Medical Center in their general ICU. I thought I wanted to move away from ICU and the bedside, so I interviewed for a perioperative job at UAB. But during the interview, I admitted that I thought I needed to have more "real" experience. And they said, we'll take you right over here in Trauma. i probably would have never chosen Trauma but I guess God had a better plan for me than I did."

How do you find meaning in the trauma field? "These people are having crises moments. It's a difficult field, but it's needed. It's not for everybody. I wanted to help the people I could help. Not everyone is appreciative, but you feel that you can make a difference there, even if they don't recognize it or appreciate it at the time."

What do you like about your job? "As a bedside nurse, i enjoyed getting to work with a pattern of people - you get close to them. That type of job makes you close to people. The types of situations you're in, and having to depend on people for help because you can't do that yourself. There was a lot of camaraderies, it was like a family. In my role now, I enjoy that I have a lot of autonomy and good relationships with the physicians and patients. A lot of my role is helping people navigate life post-injury. We do anything we can do to ease things for people or give them the information or the resources they need. I'm thankful for being trusted."

What are some qualities that make for a good trauma nurse? "Persistence, being self-motivated, not being afraid of challenges, courage, having an open mind. Remember that it's not 

Is there a quote you live by? "If anything is worth doing, it's worth doing well. It's from my mother and my first-grade teacher. That's important, even in minuscule things - things that people don't see as important are important. 

Role at UAB: Nurse Manager - Trauma Burn Intensive Care Unit

Years of experience: 36 years at UAB

What was your journey to your current position? "I knew I wanted to be a nurse after meeting my older sister’s best friend Brenda when I as 14 years old. She had a personality that set her apart from her other friends I had met. There was just something about her. When I learned that she was a nurse, I decided that I wanted to be one too. Nursing presented an opportunity to help people during their most vulnerable time. I started out as a Nursing Assistant in 1986 when I decided to take a break from Nursing School and worked fulltime on 5SW, then when I went back to school, I worked on SICU part time until I graduated Nursing school in 1988. I started my Nursing career in SICU, worked as staff nurse for 3 years, then became the night shift Charge Nurse until the TBICU opened on JT 15, I then transferred to the TBICU where I was the night shift Charge Nurse. I interviewed and was selected as the Nurse Manager for TBICU in October 2006. I had never considered going into a leadership role other than being the night shift charge nurse. When the position became available, I felt this was a natural transition given my clinical experience, proven leadership experience and desire to make a difference."

What makes trauma/burn different than any other service line? "Trauma patients experience may have a huge emotional impact on their life and their family, which may require a large amount of emotional support both during and after hospitalization."

What do you like about your job? "One - playing an integral part in the development of new nurses. Two - my role in assisting in ensuring patients receive the high-quality patient care they deserve and need, along with finding ways to improve day to day processes. Three - seeing patients recover who you thought would not.

What is challenging about your job? "Ensuring staff know that you have their best interest at heart, as well as ensuring safe, quality patient care. And staffing, morale, retention, burnout, and hiring the right people and coaching and mentoring a diverse (different generation) team."

How do you practice self-care when you're not on the job? "I separate from work when I am off, do not answer email, but I can be reached by pager or phone if needed. I have friends outside of work, so I am not always talking about work when I'm off. I mow lots of grass and I enjoying cleaning up and organizing things around the house."

Role at UAB: Trauma Surgeon, Professor, and Co-Director of UAB's Women In Surgery Program

Years of experience: 18 years as a surgeon, 15 of those in trauma/acute care surgery. 7 years at UAB.

What was your journey to your current position? "My mother is a nurse, so think I got the “medical bug” from her. In medical school I became interested in surgery during my 3rd year clerkship and 4th year rotation on trauma (trauma case of 20-ish year old female coming in after a car crash in which her arm was on the car door edge with the window rolled down; the patient had a traumatic amputation of her arm at the mid upper arm level; they brought her in 1 trauma bay and rolled her amputated arm in the trauma bay next to her; I followed her in the hospital and then saw her in our rehab center after an extensive recovery; I was hooked on trauma). As a young trauma surgeon I really enjoyed my job and teaching the med students and residents. I challenged the students and residents to find their passion in medicine and pursue it wholeheartedly. I enjoyed encouraging interest in surgery and this passion of mine was recognized by the students and residents and by my fellow faculty and departmental leaders. This started my career in surgical education, where I’ve been involved in all aspects of surgical education (med students, residents, fellows, and faculty)."

What do you like about your job and what is challenging? "I think the field of trauma, surgical critical care, and emergency general surgery is a fantastic specialty. There is such variety in patients and surgical cases—it’s never the same day twice.  From the quick-paced, high energy focus of trauma to the cerebral, detail-oriented focus in the surgical ICU to the technically-challenging demands of emergency general surgery—the field of Acute Care Surgery continually stimulates growth in your knowledge, skills, and confidence and most certainly keeps you on your toes."

How are you involved in mentoring the next generation of women in medicine? "As the co-leader for UAB’s Women In Surgery (WIS) group, I have been involved in supporting females in the surgical field at all levels. My fellow co-leader and I did a session with junior high/high school students this past summer during the students’ summer STEM camp at McWane Science Center.  We discussed our careers and why we liked being physicians and showed them they can dream big when it comes to their future career. WIS has also partnered with the UAB Heersink SOM’s Association of Women Surgeons medical student group and has planned many activities for our faculty to interact with interested female med students to encourage their interest in surgery. We have also planned networking events for surgical residents and faculty that lead to mentorship opportunities. WIS is also trying to work with the UAB Health system to promote policy changes regarding parental leave and compensation during parental leave; we have also implemented a resident lactation policy in the department as well as improving the lactation spaces in the hospitals."

How do you practice self-care when not on the job? "My family always keeps me grounded. To my kids, I’m just “Mom” and that keeps me humble. Most of my free time is spent with my kids—playing and laughing and watching them find their joys in life. My husband and I try to find time for a relaxing beach vacation every now and then and we enjoy spending time with our families and our church family."

Role at UAB: The Lead Nurse Practitioner on the Wound Care team

Years of experience: 6 years in wound care specifically, 20 years as a nurse at UAB

What was your journey to your current position? "I have been with wound care for six years and I have been working at UAB for 20 years. I worked as a staff nurse at the General Medicine unit for 10 years, SICU for 6 years. I earned my BSN and MSN from UAB and when I finished my MSN in 2016, the wound care department was newly established and I became the first NP in the wound care team. I always want to help people and I believe that doing good and saving life is my calling. I like anything hands-on, like deal with tools. Healing wounds with proper wound care is fascinating, and I want to be a healer.  After 10 years of Med-Surg nursing, I want to advance my career, and I want to do more. Working at a Med-Surg unit, I took care of many wounds, and I learned a lot from our wound care nurses and I think wound care is very interesting."

What is special about working in trauma medicine? "Trauma is fast pace, full of excitement and variety. You will never know what trauma case comes next, and trauma patients heal faster, or die faster (unfortunately). Every trauma has its story behind, full of challenge. I work with a team of wound care nurses who are certified wound, ostomy and continent nurses. They are very talent, knowledgeable, creative and they make so many patients’ life easier. I work with inpatient wound care consult service and I like new consults every day, new challenges every day."

What is challenging about your job? "The most challenging about my job, probably, is to change old practice (outdated practice) in surgeons. I take care of a lot surgical wounds and deal with surgeons daily, and “wet-to-dry” dressing change is their “gold standard”, but “wet-to-dry” was 40s, 50s medicine, and we are in 2022 now."

Is being a woman in trauma medicine particularly beneficial, or challenging, or both? "I believe that being a woman makes it particularly challenging to have a job in trauma medicine and particularly beneficial too, because traditionally providers in trauma medicine are men, patients are used to male doctors, and currently majority trauma providers still are men; trauma happens all the time and treating trauma is a psychologically and physically demanding job, and women not just have job responsibility, also, have many more other responsibility outside of job than men. Women have to take families. Of course, biases still stand in the way for women having a career in medicine, because our society still prefer male doctors, and some patients turn to male doctors for advises. One more thing that I want to mention. Being an Asian woman as a healthcare provider is harder than a white person. I have encountered many occasions that a white patient refused my care just because of my skin color. I am so grateful to work with Dr. Vander Noot and he always stands by me and supports me."

What is your favorite memory from your job? "My favorite memory on the job was about one of our patient. He was a kidney transplant patient and he developed very bad infection to his legs and we used advanced wound care therapy to heal his leg wounds. His surgeons told him only option was amputation. One day we met him in the hallway, and he was on his way to the clinic, he was so happy and said” I still have my legs!” I really like my job (wound care), healing wounds give me satisfaction."