Job: Nurse manager, Surgery Center, Georgia Retina
What I do:
“At Georgia Retina, every day is different. I schedule surgeries, work with patients before and after surgery, and make sure the surgeons have everything they need during surgery.”
How I got into this:
“I came to this country in 1978 from Yorkshire, England, where I was a teacher. I wasn’t certified to teach here, so I looked for another career and returned to school to get a nursing degree. I’ve worked mostly in hospitals and with large corporations.
“Until this point in my career, I have never worked for a group of physicians. I lived in Tullahoma, Tenn., until about four and a half years ago, when I was recruited to move to Atlanta and run a surgery center. When that center closed, I joined Georgia Retina.”
Best part of the job:
“A lot of people come here not able to see. While they may not be better overnight — often it’s a long process over weeks or months — very often they get better and their vision improves. It’s gratifying to work with these people who have real vision problems and to be able to help them.”
Most challenging part:
“Unlike a practice that only does one eye condition — like cataract surgery, where all the surgeries are the same — our surgeries are longer and each is different. Our patients have complex conditions like a detached retina, and they may be diabetic patients or hypertensive patients with eye complications.
“We schedule cases every day. Our nine surgeons work at the center one day every other week, and their cases are varied.”
What people don’t know about my job:
“At Georgia Retina, surgeons only treat conditions of the retina, macula and vitreous. The conditions we treat are limited to 13 different conditions such as branch retinal vein occlusion, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, macular holes, macular pucker and retinal detachment. We’re a very specialized practice.”
What keeps me going:
“I enjoy working with the Georgia Retina patients, most of whom are older, and who are especially worried about possibly losing their vision. I get to explain the surgery to them and help them understand the process and what we can do to help them. Eyesight is so important that facing possible vision loss is more frightening than confronting many other medical issues.”
Preparation needed:
“To become certified as an operating room nurse, you must have two years and 2,400 hours of experience as an operating room nurse and pass a certification exam. Certification must be renewed every five years.”
Salary:
The median pay for operating room head nurses in metro Atlanta is $92,741, according to salary.com.
Contact us
Compiled by John Brieske, Pulse managing editor. Got a health care job that you love? Please send e-mail to jbrieske@ajc.com.
