My Story

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Up until the age of thirteen, I was a healthy, athletic teenager. Until one morning, on what should have been my first day of band camp, my alarm clock sounded off. It startled me. When I opened my eyes, the room was spinning. I woke up hours later in the emergency room at our small local hospital with no monitoring, no cardiologist, and no interventions. That was the first of many episodes of being mismanaged in the healthcare setting that I entrusted with my life. Years of frustration would follow with a series of misdiagnoses, disregard, labels, and even errors and oversights that nearly cost me my life. Time and again, even after receiving a diagnosis of Prolonged QT Syndrome (PQTS), my symptoms were mismanaged, disregarded, and even mislabeled as hyperactivity and even indigestion. There were numerous times I would have a presyncope episode and go to the ER just to be told that my EKG was normal, and they'd send me home.

I was treated like an attention-seeking hypochondriac. And there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. That is, until it reached a point when I was forced to advocate for myself at 19 years old. 

It was in 1994. I was driving on a busy road when I got extremely dizzy. To make matters worse, my newborn cousin was strapped in the back seat and her mom, who was in the passenger's seat, couldn't drive a standard shift. Fortunately, I was able to make it to the emergency room where, once again, they said my EKG looked normal and that "nothing was wrong". I was furious! I was 19 years old, and my mother wasn't there to advocate for me. Something had to change. So, I got the names of every provider at my bedside and told them I was going to drive myself home. I named them one by one and said if I had an accident, I'd be sure to let everyone know that they said, "Nothing was wrong with me." Still wearing a hospital gown, I started marching to my car in the parking lot. A few people in lab coats followed me and asked me to come back inside. I was admitted that same day to a telemetry unit. That day marked the beginning of a lifetime of advocating for myself and eventually advocating for my patients as well. Less than two weeks into my hospital stay, I had an episode of Torsades de Point that was finally captured on telemetry! I received my first pacemaker the very next day.

 As a new nurse, I've made making my patients the center of every shift change, physician rounds, and involving them in their own care. It didn't take long to realize that, even as a nurse, advocating for my patients often fell on deaf ears. I've witnessed the push back between nursing and providers often caused delays in patient care that contributed to extremely poor outcomes for the patient. The countless preventable errors that I have experienced as a patient and witnessed as a parent and a nurse that have led to injury, suffering, and in worse cases even death. Fortunately, for me and my loved ones, I was at the bedside to advocate on their behalf. Others don't always have that advantage. Families and patients are often unaware about the near-misses, errors that caused them injuries, and at times do not have a complete understanding of the care they are receiving. As an independent (not working for the facility), I can fully advocate for my patients and families and speak out when there has been an error or oversight that negatively impacts the patient. This not only protects and improves outcomes for the patient, it can also be an opportunity to bring awareness and improve patient care at the facility.

 Over the years, I've taken extraordinary measures to protect my patients. But after my last experience when a patient's care was carelessly, needlessly delayed due to what I can only describe as a lack of knowledge, I found myself struggling to feel safe in the workplace. Unsupported and my objective concerns disregarded, could I truly safely do my job and give my patients the best care and advocacy? I knew there had to be a better way. That's when I learned about nurse coaching and alternative avenues in nursing.

I couldn't continue to burn out in powerlessness and fatigue. I also knew that nursing was a gift. I just wanted to make sure patients got the best care and were a part of the decision-making process regarding their health care. The best way to accomplish that on a wider scale is nurse coaching. Not only could I educate patients and families, but I could also help them develop a lifestyle that is more inclined to keep them healthier with a better quality of life. People should feel and be safe under the care of their providers. Providers need their patients to have the knowledge, resources, guidance, and support they need to understand their medical conditions, treatment plans, medications, and to be active participants in their own health. 

That is the foundation of The Nurse Coach, LLC. As an independent nurse coach, I can effectively advocate for and educate patients, families, and healthcare workers to bridge communication gaps that foster a safer, more efficient, and a more effective healthcare model.