Her Story
About Michelle
I have been in nursing for almost 20 years, starting as a clinical nurse working on a hematology oncology unit and in palliative care. I also worked in nurse case management in people's homes, though I found it unpredictable. I then returned to the emergency department where I stayed for about 15 years. During COVID-19, I worked at one of the worst hit hospitals in all of New York State. My husband and I donated close to 400 masks to the hospital because we had no masks in the ER. I was recognized by Long Island Business News as Nurse of the Year in 2020 for this effort. After COVID-19, which was very disturbing for me, I decided I was done with my clinical career and transitioned to a manager role, which I didn't like as much. I finally concluded that I would stick with academia solely. In 2017, I received a phone call from Columbia University School of Nursing saying I had applied, though I didn't recall applying. I went on the interview and was hired, and I've been employed with them since 2017. I also started to adjunct with the City University of New York as an adjunct professor, and they offered me a full-time position as an assistant professor of nursing. I also adjunct with Hofstra on a per diem basis. In academia, I believe I can really change the trajectory of future clinicians by instilling not only clinical judgment but advocacy, empathy, and devotion to human life. I always tell my students that they're the bridge between life and death, and their advocacy could lead to better outcomes. I am passionate about sepsis advocacy and am currently writing an article on changing the approach to surveillancing patients with sepsis-like criteria, specifically making it standard to obtain core temperatures to ensure accurate vital signs and proper care delivery.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Michelle
01What do you attribute your success to?
At the end of the day, it's you versus you. If you can keep in mind that you're going to do it no matter what, you will do it, but if you give up mentally, everything else will go south. It's important to be mindful that anything you want is possible, as long as you're in the right mind frame. My mantra was, as long as I'm floating, I'm still above the water, even if I'm in rough seas. Any battle is you versus you. If you could push yourself through that, you will make it out through the other side unscathed.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
One of the greatest pieces of advice was from an emergency room physician who told me, 'Slow is fast.' You can do things fast, and there's more of an occurrence of error. If you slow it down, and you think it thoroughly through, and you take a moment and you breathe, and it takes you one more minute to get there, you'll do it far more in a concise manner. I have a tendency to get very anxious in critical situations with patients, and I remember him telling me that. From that day forward, I just took a deep breath and said, if I'm going to take care of this patient, I have to do it in a slow way, so I can think this out thoroughly. That has been extremely effective, and I've applied that in so many other places in my life.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My most powerful piece of advice is that at the end of the day, it's you versus you. If you can keep in mind that you're going to do it no matter what, you will do it, but if you give up mentally, everything else will go south. It's important to be mindful that anything you want is possible, as long as you're in the right mind frame. My mantra was, as long as I'm floating, I'm still above the water, even if I'm in rough seas. At the end of the day, any battle is you versus you. If you could push yourself through that, you will make it out through the other side unscathed.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think some of the challenges are, although we've made great strides with electronic medical records, and it really decreases the incidence of errors, it also has a tendency to sometimes decrease the amount of face time nurses are having with their patients. Because there's such stringent guidelines in regards to documentation from a legal stance, sometimes the emphasis is placed on clinical documentation versus spending time with your patient. That, to me, is upsetting, but it is what it is. I always tell my students that your documentation is important, but make that the last thing you do. The first thing you do is take care of human life, and then documentation can come after that. Another challenge is AI, because we live in a world now where the integrity of some of the documentation and research is certainly impacted by AI, by the misuse, and there's a lot of misinformation associated with it too. It's very frustrating for those in education.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
In academia, I believe you can really change the trajectory of future clinicians by instilling not only clinical judgment, but advocacy, and having them have insight, not only clinical insight, but also possessing empathy and devotion to human life. I always tell my students that they're on the forefront of disaster, and that their decisions and their voice is extremely powerful. I always tell my students that they're the bridge between life and death, and their advocacy could lead to better outcomes, and to protect your patients as you would protect your mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers. If you do that, you'll do the right thing all the time. On a microscopic level, somehow, someway, those in academia make a huge difference, I hope.
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