Today is National Nurses Day, and we’re celebrating one of our own: Kim Parham, RN, BSN, CN-BN, and Director, Quality Care & Clinical Relations, of our Excellence in Screening and Care program. We caught up with Kim to hear a little bit about her history as a nurse and how it informs the work she does every day here at GO2 for Lung Cancer.

Can you share your story about how you went from being a nurse to working at GO2 for Lung Cancer?

I graduated in 1985 and started my nursing career as s a bedside nurse on a gynecology/urology medical- surgical floor in a hospital setting, eventually moving to outpatient surgery. Working within the outpatient surgery department, I was able to see advances in breast cancer  procedures. I witnessed innovation with early diagnosis in late 1980’s, which led to patient’s having a choice in their type of treatment.

This inspired me to get involved and focus on breast cancer becoming a nurse navigator. I was a nurse manager at a busy community breast center in Nashville, TN creating a breast cancer navigation program. In 2009, I became a cancer support program director for the health system developing tumor site specific navigation programs.  What I saw happen with breast cancer in the late 1980’s, I started seeing happen with new advances in lung cancer.  Starting in 2010, we started with new technology allowing less invasive lung biopsy and staging procedures that became available within community hospitals. We also started having patients receive personalized care with biomarker testing of EGFR available for eligible patients. Then lung cancer screening was recommended and reimbursed.

As our lung program matured, we received designations as Centers of Excellence both by the Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA) for our screening program and by the Bonnie Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (ALCF) for the care we provided from early detection, diagnosis, treatment and support services all while focusing on patient centered multidisciplinary care.  In 2017, I joined ALCF with a focus on doing everything that’s right for the patient and being their advocate. To this day, I treasure spending my time  assisting healthcare providers, patients and their families. I was very excited to learn that ALCF was merging with LCA to create GO2 for Lung Cancer because both organizations were great separately but I knew together would be even a more powerful voice for the patient and our entire community.

How does your background inform your job now?

Depending on the nurse’s role, some nurses may need to prioritize between meeting patients and family needs with administrative needs All of our Centers of Excellence strive to make the best journey for patients, but it’s hard to balance with constrained resources. Currently, I get to assist healthcare providers sharing best practices between hospitals to help each other find creative ways to improve patient care. I am able to put on my nursing hat and also my administrative hat to help facilities.

We want to help provide tools and resources to nurses, navigators, doctors, and hospital administration allowing them a framework to provide excellent multidisciplinary comprehensive lung cancer care.

What would you say to someone thinking about becoming a nurse, why is it important?

I encourage anyone to investigate if nursing is a fit for them. There are many opportunities available within nursing:  direct patient care, navigation, healthcare administration, academics (teaching and research), public health, industry, or many other unique roles that nurses can fill. The sky’s the limit with a nursing education.  There are many levels of nursing education so see which one works best for you. Always be open for new opportunities as well.  We never know what the future holds and where a nurse can make an impact.

At the core of nursing is advocacy. As a nurse, you could be an advocate for a mother and her newborn or being the voice for a patient who no longer can speak for themselves. We can intimately connect with patients by being present, holding their hand and being a shoulder to cry on upon learning of a diagnosis but also being there to rejoice and celebrate when a treatment was successful.

Nursing is one of the most trusted professions; We are key to education of the community and patients.  I highly encourage anyone who’s thinking about becoming a nurse, to consider joining our profession.  You will make an impact on patient lives either directly or indirectly with your knowledge and expertise.  Thank you for all the nurses out there helping the vulnerable at their time of need.

 

Kim has been a pioneer implementing cancer navigation programs.   A Vanderbilt University graduate and former director of cancer support services, she utilizes her experience in program development to create best practice lung programs. At Saint Thomas Health in Nashville, TN, Kim was featured within Ascension Health as a lung program expert. She created, directed and implemented the comprehensive lung cancer program: LDCT screening, incidental nodule follow-up, lung nodule clinic, tumor site specific multidisciplinary conferences, and survivorship. Most importantly, her program demonstrated an increase in early-stage lung diagnosis resulting in improved patient quality of life. Now, Kim is excited to be with GO2 for Lung Cancer as Director, Quality Care and Clinical Relations.

Kim and her husband Michael are “empty nesters” and enjoy spending time with their grand dog, Jake.