Julie Hinson, AGNP, is a remarkably competent and compassionate provider. She consistently goes above and beyond for her patients in her work in palliative care. She sees patients primarily in the outpatient palliative care clinic, but also in the inpatient setting. While one of the goals of the outpatient clinic is to help patients with chronic and life-threatening illness manage their symptoms without coming to the ED, there are times when a patient needs to be admitted. Julie’s patients know that if they are admitted they will see her during their stay even if she is not the assigned inpatient palliative care provider. She works very hard to maintain continuity of care and ensure that the particular needs of her patients are communicated to the team providing care in whatever setting.
Recently Julie has been caring for a young woman with cancer. The patient has limited support people around her. Julie has worked diligently to gain the trust of this woman, she has spent countless hours on the phone trying to ensure that the patient has access to pain medication and other services that she needs. When the patient had to be hospitalized recently, Julie was the person paying attention to the needs of the whole family and communicated the needs to her team in the hospital and to those who could help beyond these walls. Without her attention to the present and future needs of this family, the emotional and psychosocial suffering of each of them would be significantly greater.
This is not a unique example of Julie’s ability to recognize the deeper needs of patients and their families as they learn to cope with chronic and life-threatening illness. She sits with them, listens deeply, and helps them find in themselves their gifts for finding meaning and hope even when facing death. She uses her excellent clinical skills and her nurse’s compassionate heart to guide the care she provides. And she goes above and beyond the role of nurse practitioner every day. As her colleague, I feel privileged to be a part of her team and to learn from and with her.