My Scope of Practice: Educating It Forward

Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. — James Arthur Baldwin, novelist

  Nursing is a combination of art and science. A nurse needs to have medical skills to help physically heal a patient; at the same time, a certain finesse is necessary in terms of choosing and especially explaining care. With more than 29 years as a wound, ostomy, continence nurse, Susan A. Bell, RN, MSN, CWOCN has mastered this combination, with a special emphasis on education.

  Susan earned her diploma in professional nursing at Mercer Medical Center School of Nursing (Trenton, NJ) in 1977. After graduating, she worked as a staff nurse — first on the spinal cord injury unit at St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Center (Lawrenceville, NJ) and later in the critical unit, intensive care unit, and coronary care unit at Princeton Medical Center (Princeton, NJ). In 1981, Susan graduated from Trenton State College with her Bachelors of Science in Nursing. She spent the next 2 years working with the Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) of Trenton as a Public Health Nurse, providing home care services to patients.   In 1983, Susan became involved with ostomy and wound care after Marjorie Westerman, RN, BSN, ET encouraged her to explore the field. Marjorie had hired Susan for her first nursing job in 1977 and remained her mentor for many years. A pioneer in ostomy and wound care, Marjorie was one of the first enterostomal therapists in the state of New Jersey. Under her guidance, Susan graduated from Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Enterostomal Therapy Program and began her career at the Helene Fuld Medical Center (Trenton, NJ) as an enterostomal therapist, where she worked until 1997.

  Throughout her time at the Helene Fuld Medical Center, Susan served on and off as Director of the Community Health Education Department. In this role, she provided educational programs for the community that included health fairs, lectures to industry and schools, health screenings and follow-up, support groups, physician referral lines, and speaker’s bureaus.

  In 1994, Susan returned to Trenton State College to earn her Master of Science in Nursing with a focus on Family Health Nursing and Nursing Administration. She also served as program Director for Curative Health Services from 1998 to 2000. More than 20 years after taking her first job as a staff nurse at St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Center, Susan came full circle when she took over as clinical consultant, the position vacated when her mentor, Marjorie, retired. Susan holds this position today.

  Educating her patients has always been an important aspect of care for Susan. It was not surprising that she took on the additional role of clinical educator at Capital Health System (Trenton, NJ) in 2000; this offered another opportunity to help teach others. More than 12 years later, Susan continues to be responsible for the ongoing educational needs of inpatients as well as outpatients, with a primary focus on diabetes mellitus, ostomy, wound, and continence issues. “The wound, ostomy, continence nurse is key not only in providing the education, but also in serving as the support person for the patient and family,” Susan says.

  Susan’s desire to advance the specialty goes far beyond her day jobs. She has served in various positions in the Delaware Valley Enterostomal Therapy (DVET) Northeast Regional (NER) affiliate of the Wound Ostomy Continence Nurses Society (WOCN), including Corresponding Secretary (1990–1992), Recording Secretary (2000– 2002), and Vice President (2006–2010). She also has been Treasurer of the Northeast Region of the WOCN (2010–2012) and Co-Coordinator of the 2012 Regional Conference of the NER WOCN.

  Susan received a partial scholarship from the WOCN to attend the Nurse in Washington Program in 2004. This afforded her the chance to meet with her state’s representatives on the Hill to advocate for ostomy, wound, and continence patients. “We bring the issues to the forefront for our patients and work closely to lobby for changes,” Susan says. “The WOCN association is the leader in lobbying for the rights of the wound, ostomy, and continence patients and is involved on all levels.” She also served on the WOCN Public Policy Committee from 2005 to 2007 and represented the WOCN at the American Nursing Association’s House of Delegates meeting in Washington, DC in 2006 and 2008.

  Susan hopes her efforts, and the efforts of other like-minded nurses, will help facilitate changes in care at the governmental level. “There are barriers in accessing care for patients, especially the most vulnerable with economic issues,” Susan says. “I work in an inner city acute care hospital with patients who are underinsured, many of whom are illegal immigrants. We provide the same standard of care to whomever walks through the front door of the hospital.”

  Whether it’s in the House of Representatives or the house of one of her patients, Susan is a constant and devoted champion of her scope of practice.

This article was not subject to the Ostomy Wound Management peer-review process.