Member Highlight: Hannah Holmes on Finding New Paths & Advancing the Profession

“I’m in kind of an odd phase. I call it my sabbatical,” says Hannah Holmes, MS, APRN FNP-BC. “Back in September, my employment ended with a company that I’d been with for about 7 years. It was a reduction in workforce, and was quite a surprise for me. I was a part-time provider at the time and the organization was moving away from part-time providers and nurse practitioners in general.”

Her job search was short-lived, and she’s looking forward to starting a new position in January. In the meantime, she’s using her sabbatical to enjoy time with her young daughter and focus on her doctoral schoolwork in the DNP program at Case Western Reserve.

“I wanted to obtain a terminal degree and gain a clear pathway for full-time teaching in the future, down the road,” she said.

Creating New Entrepreneurial Pathways for Nurses

The doctoral program—and ISAPN—opened new possibilities, beyond teaching.

“It has kind of morphed a little bit as I’ve been in the program. And actually, I think ISAPN has something to do with that also, with some of the focus we’ve had in the last couple of years on full practice authority in Illinois, ISAPN members who are business owners, and then some of my own project work through my school program,” she said.

Full practice authority licensure changed the game for nursing—and health care delivery in Illinois.

“ISAPN worked really hard to get that passed in the state of Illinois. We’ve made really big strides and not every state can say that, so it’s definitely opening up access and pathways for nurse practitioners and APRNs. Opening up the channel for advanced practice nurses to have the impact we’ve been trained to have, without creating barriers for patient access.”

With those new pathways, Hannah saw new opportunities for her career path and impact.

“When you talk about needing a high-value caregiver or provider, I really see APRNs being that exactly, especially in the primary care setting. So my hope would be that—with the advent of full practice authority—I could try to develop a fully nurse practitioner-run federally qualified clinic for underserved patients, particularly in the state of Illinois,” she said.

Prioritizing Professional Connections—Near or Far

Whether her path leads to teaching or entrepreneurship—or both!—Hannah understands the value of professional connections—now more than ever.

“I think it’s interesting—when I think about practicing as a nurse and the setting of practicing as a nurse—there were always other nurses around: on the floor in an inpatient setting there was a team of nurses for a unit, or outpatient in an office setting. The capacity to connect with other professionals with my same degree was a lot easier or more organic, you could say

“When I became a nurse practitioner, and I would hedge that this is probably pretty common for any APRN. There’s a lot more responsibility. You have your own patient panel. You may be the only nurse practitioner or APRN in your practice setting. Maybe you have your own office, your own clinic, and there’s not that ready connection with other professionals who are at your same licensure.”

When Hannah began serving on the Membership Committee and as Interim Nurse Practitioner Representative for ISAPN she realized what she had been missing.

“It wasn’t something that I very obviously noticed until I became involved in ISAPN. Being able to sit in a meeting and meet someone else who does similar type of work to me—I call it “talking shop”—kind of just discussing your workflow or your day or a challenging patient case—I started to realize how much I missed that in the transition. It was so readily there as a nurse but… Even just talking about practicing independently, we’re talking about having less connection with other providers. ISAPN offers a way to reconnect and have those peers around you to discuss your practice, your ideas, and things like that.”

Can social media help provide that professional connection?

“I think it does have a place. It’s probably a difficult time to talk about it because … social media has been a big source of connection for a lot of people, especially in the last two years. I know just from being on the Membership Committee and my own experiences, everyone wants to meet in real life now. We’re just all raring to sit together—wearing masks of course—but you know, talking face to face with people.

“One thing that social media has been able to do is—when we don’t have that opportunity—connect likeminded people. I also think for ISAPN it’s really important because we have a large geographic area. A lot of the challenges and the joys of being an advanced practice nurse are the same across the state, but some of them can be different. I mean, me coming from a very urban, metropolitan setting to be able to connect with an APRN in southern Illinois is not something I’d usually be able to do, even at an in-person meeting. Seeing some of these spotlights that ISAPN is doing on social media is nice—it helps to foster that connection with other professionals, even if we aren’t geographically close.”

Supporting ISAPN Members’ Professional Wellbeing

Hannah is enthusiastic about her work on the Membership Committee and what 2022 holds for ISAPN and its members.

“We—for the first time—developed graduation honors cords for our student members to wear when they graduate, representing the organization and representing their commitment to professional development through their school years. So that’s something I’m really excited for and as we roll out the Adopt-a-School program we’re hoping to see lots of the green and blue cords at people’s graduations—and hopefully I can wear one too when I graduate!

“Another thing we’re excited for in 2022 is hopefully having a conference in person and being able to welcome new and old members to safe, in-person meetings,” she said.

Even more than one-on-one connections, for Hannah, ISAPN membership is about supporting the profession.

“One thing ISAPN has helped me to do is take CMEs that are by and for APRNs, that support APRN organizations. A lot of times CME budgets can come from an employer, but it’s still a budget that I get,

and I can choose how to spend it, and choosing to support trainings given by APRN business owners or by APRN-led organizations is something that is really meaningful to me.

“That’s one thing I would want potential members or incoming members to understand is that they’re not just becoming a member, they’re supporting APRNs all over the state, they’re supporting APRN business owners, and they’re supporting their own future careers by investing in an organization that’s looking out for their professional wellbeing. That’s probably the biggest thing for me.”