 Spotlight on Susan Pendergrass, RN
For the past 5 years, I’ve served as a member of the team at Trinity Healthforce Learning and I’d like to share my insights from this journey. I am a “baby boomer nurse,” if one wants to know my age range. My nursing career certainly has placed me in a variety of clinical settings, particularly ICU, Surgery, PACU and pain management. I have been a nursing faculty member that includes didactic and clinical settings in an LPN program of instruction to a University-based program of nursing or hospital-based education department.
My initial graduation was from a 3 year RN Diploma program with subsequent education of many years to acquire my BSN, M.ED, then finally my MSN with graduation as a Family Nurse Practitioner and ANCC Board Certification as an APRN. My husband wondered if he had married a professional student, but happily my formal education ended, although learning never stops in our household.
Quite by accident I entered into professional speaking when a pharmaceutical rep. stated I seemed to have a talent for speaking. I learned the hard way that thirty to forty minutes of speaker program time does not require 60 – 75 slides, that one does not want to be the last speaker on the agenda of a long day and that if something electronic can malfunction (specifically catch on fire) then it will happen……
Being a content writer does not require that one has talent rivaling Hemmingway or Shakespeare, but it does require that you sincerely must have the desire to learn, work as a team member and meet deadlines as needed. For me, writing and publishing simply makes me continually learn! What a great opportunity to increase knowledge and perhaps offer someone else guidance that impacts and improves patient outcomes.
I have met so many people, traveled so many places and experienced so many things I would not have otherwise through speaking and writing. A few years ago, one night I was presenting a program in a bowling alley in a small upper Midwest town and the next night I was presenting in Beverly Hills. When given the opportunity to participate in an educational offering in Egypt I did not hesitate, and while visiting Valley of the Kings with my local hospital T-shirt on, a gentleman (archaeologist) called out from an excavation site. His grandparents lived in the same town we do here in Missouri so he recognized the hospital name and logo.
My primary specialty as an APRN and consultant the past 15 years is in pain assessment and management, both acute and chronic. That leads me into this bit of advice:
- When seated next to a stranger on an airplane do not let them know you are a nurse specializing in pain management unless you are prepared to take on another “patient” the entire flight.
- Do let the airline flight crew know you are a nurse because you might get extra pretzels and chips for those “free consultations” aboard.
- Be prepared to fully explain to a law enforcement official the real reason you are so knowledgeable about opioids and drugs in case they are seated next to you in the airplane and have handcuffs.
It is my pleasure to be part of this team and I take this opportunity to thank them for their patience and guidance.
Sincerely, Susan
Susan Pendergrass, MSN, M.ED, APRN, BC, FNP
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