Lori Mollmann MBA BSN RN

What pushes me is that I've always had a great desire to help people. In both of my roles - working as a clinical ICU nurse and as a nurse expert witness - I'm helping people and doing meaningful work that ultimately has the goal of positive outcomes. I'm pretty driven by the memory of my parents. The sense that I know the more I do this, and the more achievement and accomplishments I have, it not only gives me pride in myself, but I know it's making them proud as well. They're a big part of my driving force. My dad was always the kind of person who told my sister and me that he wanted us to be strong, self-sufficient women. One of the things he said was you can't get married until you have a college degree, you need to be able to support yourself. He instilled in us these ideals that we as women could be strong leaders. I chose a different path than my sister, who is a healthcare executive with a really big job in management. I decided I had to go a different route and have my own business and my clinical life as well.

I would say that it's very important to look at who you align yourself with, and that can translate into volumes of success down the road. Align yourself with the right people. Don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. Sometimes you need a supportive nudge to do something that you wouldn't think you were able to do. Just as an example, I never thought that I would write, and one of the legal nurse organizations I belong to - I'm on the board for the Greater Orlando Association of Legal Nurse Consultants - they gave me the supportive nudge I didn't realize I needed to write an article for the quarterly newsletter, and then that led to me contributing a chapter to a medical record analysis book last fall. If you would have asked me a year ago if I was going to write or be a contributor, I would have said no, but as it turned out, I did, and I found out that I really did like to write. So stepping out of your comfort zone, putting yourself out there to take a risk as needed - you have to show up. You have to show up for yourself, you have to show up for your patients. Always showing up, always being present, aligning yourself with the right people. Never being afraid to ask questions, and I've always tried to make sure to trust but verify things that people tell me, so I think that's always something that I would give advice to someone.

One of the biggest challenges in the field right now is ongoing clinician burnout in the wake of COVID, alongside the requirement that expert witnesses remain clinically active while balancing demanding practice schedules. At the same time, there are significant opportunities as nursing continues to expand beyond bedside care into diverse roles such as medical-legal consulting, expert witness work, education, and other advanced practice pathways.

The values most important to me in both my work and personal life are helping others, being conscientious and detail-oriented in everything I do, taking pride in meaningful and impactful achievement, and carrying forward the strength and self-sufficiency I learned from my parents.