Meet Kate: A Doctor of Nurse Practioner and Clinical Nurse Specialist at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center

Kate’s Relevant Education Experience:

Community college classes, 4-Year degree in nursing (BSN), Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Job Title:

Clinic owner specialist at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland

What does your role do?

Many people don’t know the role of a clinical nurse specialist, but we are one of the four types of advanced practice nurses. So there are nurse practitioners, there are midwives, there are CRNAs and there are clinical nurse specialists and we all have the same core education and then we split off into our specialty areas.

Clinical nurse specialists work on complex health care problem-solving from the perspective of an advanced practice nurse. So we provide direct patient care.

The state of Maryland just passed prescriptive authority for clinical nurse specialists. So we’re very excited to be providing advanced practice nurse, direct care services to patients.

But we also support nurses, and we write the translation of evidence-based care through nurses. Clinical nurse specialists know that you can write the best orders and have the best plans in the world, but if you don’t have nurses who know how to carry them out or have the resources to do those orders, then the orders are not helpful. And then we work on interdisciplinary approaches to complex problem-solving. 

Why did you pursue nursing?

“I was one of those people who always wanted to be a nurse. So I first told my family, I wanted to be a nurse around seven or eight and I’m not quite sure where it came from because I didn’t have nurses in my family. But I still actually have a note saying, ‘When I grow up, I wanna be a nurse because I like to help people.’

Then I went through high school; I did a high school program for people interested in health programs. So I did some community college work and then I went straight into my BSN (Bachelor of Nursing) program. I went to Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Ever since then, I have been working in critical care in trauma. And I worked as a flight nurse – critical care flight nurse. And in that work as a nurse, I saw a lot of great ideas that my friends and coworkers had to make the health system better and to make improvements. And I wanted to be able to facilitate those things that bedside nurses see in their daily practice because the people closest to the work, know the work the best.

[Most recently] I went to the University of Maryland School of Nursing and got my Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) as both a nurse practitioner and a clinical nurse specialist to get those advanced practice skills and to try and provide that complex problem-solving in health care.”

What’s your favorite part about your impactful career?

“I am just so beyond lucky to work where I work. I work at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, which is the primary adult resource center for trauma in the state of Maryland. And I just work with a world-class team to provide care for the sickest trauma patients in the state. We really provide the best of the best, and so I’m really honored to care for everyone—because trauma hits everybody. It hits elderly and young people and just everyone from all backgrounds. And so it’s really an opportunity to take care of everybody in the state.”

Do you have any helpful career advice?

“Every single day, I go to work, I get to make a difference in someone’s life.

So, for anyone considering working in health care, I get to make a difference in someone’s life every day, I come to work. I can provide direct care to a patient. So somebody that is hurt or sick, I can help them feel better.

I can provide education to a family member and provide some clarity. I can help make plans to help people and get them where they’re going.

And every day is different. There is definitely no routine in health care. And it’s really just, it’s an amazing place to be whether in a hospital or out of a hospital. It’s really an opportunity to care for others and I love the clinical puzzle of problem-solving. So if you like puzzles and you like critical thinking and caring, it’s really the best of all of that.”

To find more spotlight posts and insights on working in Maryland health care, check out the JoinMdHealth blog.