“Had you asked me during nursing school which field of nursing I would not want to do, I would have answered, without a moment of hesitation, “cardiac!”. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to participate in the July 2010 VUMC Nurse Residency program and I truly believe that without this program, I would have never ended up where I am today. I began my career as a nurse on 5 South Cardiac Progressive Care Unit (key word: cardiac) and eventually transitioned to CVICU (there is that c again, c for cardiac). While working in CVICU, I returned to school to obtain my Master’s and ultimately graduated in 2015 and accepted a role within the Heart Transplant team.
I have been a member of the transplant team since Spring 2015. Throughout my tenure, our program has expanded from transplanting ~40 patients a year to now one of the top transplanting centers in the nation at around 100 transplants a year. 100 lives changed forever. Of course not every transplant ends as we would hope, there are complications and even death and losing patients that I have come to know is one of the hardest aspects of outpatient care. On a regular basis I am humbled by my patients and their gratitude for the gift they have been given, oftentimes in spite of difficult situations they have had to endure. In our outpatient clinic, I have the honor of seeing patients on a daily basis alongside an exceptional team of nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians, pharmacists and so many other key players.
While the relationship and experience of seeing a patient at the time of referral to when they receive the phone call is invaluable, one of my favorite aspects of my role is working alongside the VCH Pediatric Heart Transplant Team and transitioning pediatric patients from VCH to the Adult Heart Transplant Team. Statistically, the transition period from pediatrics to adults is a vulnerable and at risk period for these patients. They are at risk of being lost to follow up as well as graft rejection and medication non-compliance. There is often great angst in leaving the familiar environment and team members. Throughout my time with the transplant team, I, along with pediatric team members and two of the adult coordinators, have developed a transition program to better facilitate the patients to our practice. We have seen much success and gratitude from patients and their family members in making the transition less intimidating.
I have many professional aspirations of continuing to grow the transition program and even someday write up our experiences and review the outcomes, but right now, I am also working to balance my own sweet babies. I have two sons, August (3) and Oliver (7 months). August is a fun and smart little boy who knows that mommy has to leave to help take care of people’s hearts and Ollie is still the sweet one! Perks of not talking and just starting to be on the move, I suppose. We all enjoy being outside, eating good food and traveling to new places. COVID has certainly made us realize the value in family and quality time and while we miss eating out, we are savoring the slower pace.”