Courtney Vance

I would say I actually had something that I'm passionate about. What drove me into cardiology. I loved it when I was an ER nurse. Ironically enough, when I was an ER nurse, I started developing several cardiac conditions on my own. I realized I was having difficulty finding support and actually even getting a diagnosis. So in my journey, kind of realized that that was I guess led to my drive to go into cardiology was to be able to if I'm not gonna get help finding these answers from the medical community I'm just gonna I will figure it out on my own. So that's what drove me to attain further education. And now it has given me the confidence to do well at my job, be an advocate and actually have true empathy and hopefully inspire others that knowledge truly is power.

One of my colleagues actually told me one time don't ever underestimate the value of my voice. She mentioned to always continue learning, ask questions, and don't be afraid to pursue other opportunities even before I feel 100% ready. And I completely agree with that view. I've actually seen that healthcare is constantly evolving and you don't have to know everything to be valuable. As long as you're curious and you stay humble and remember that your ability to connect with and advocate for people is just as important as the technical knowledge and education that you have.

Healthcare is a pretty demanding environment. One of the things I've learned is that maybe expertise is something that you build through experience, continued learning. And I would say also being willing to speak up. I think I really think probably as women we're probably conditioned to wait until we feel completely ready before stepping into the next opportunity. I would say I've probably learned that growth often happens when you challenge yourself even before you feel completely comfortable.

The biggest challenge in cardiology would be navigating through always a complex and changing system. We're always having advances in changes in medications and technology and it's always changing. It's hard to keep up. Not only do I have to learn this but then I have to educate it to my patients. And I feel like sometimes patients still struggle to feel heard to obtain answers. And then it's always especially hard when their symptoms don't necessarily fit into a textbook diagnosis. At the same time I would see that same thing as an opportunity. Maybe there's growing needs for providers who not only have a strong clinical knowledge but that can also listen educate and then help connect the dots for the patients. The future of cardiology is not just about advancing technology but probably combining innovation with compassion.

I would definitely say advocacy is probably one of my biggest things. Yeah I definitely want my patients to feel advocated for. I want them to feel educated and hopefully help to understand their condition. If they don't understand their condition or what's going on we're not likely going to be compliant with our treatment plan and therefore we're not going to get better. I think really connection with my patients to make sure that they're on board with the plan they want to know what's going on. I'm hoping that I can get them interested in speaking into their language so they would be able to feel empowered that they have full control over their health. So yeah I would say advocacy education and you know definitely empathy is something that I think providers we get busy and we forget a little bit to implicate that as much as because that's a huge important factor.