“As long as I can remember, I wanted to take care of people,” Michele M. Hughes, NP, shares.
And since the start of her professional journey, Michele has always felt called to care for orthopedic patients.
“I love seeing patients get better and go from being completely disabled and dependent on others to being fully functional and gaining independence again after surgery or intervention,” she explains.
Michele began her nursing career as an emergency room nurse at Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center. Today, she is an inpatient nurse practitioner for orthopedics and neurosurgery spine at this same facility.
“I am also the lead of inpatient advanced practice clinicians in our Richmond market,” she adds. “This particular role allows me to support and advocate for our advanced practice clinicians who care for patients across many specialties in our market’s acute care facilities.”
Michele shares that she enjoys working for Bon Secours.
“Being part of this noble profession has afforded me many opportunities to be a part of something good and optimize patient care delivery through many facets,” she explains.
Whether working with her patients or colleagues, she really enjoys being part of a team that is moving toward a common goal.
“I truly believe that everything I do as a direct patient care provider, leader of other advanced practice providers or as a leader of a professional organization, has an impact on patient care and outcomes,” she says.
Congratulations are in order as Michele was recently appointed president-elect of the National Association of Orthopedic Nurses (NAON). It is a position chosen by its membership of more than 5,000 orthopedic nurses and nurse practitioners.
In this role, Michele, together with the executive board, evaluates current trends and needs of the association with respect to the impact on growth, organizational structure, level of volunteerism, general nursing issues and changing outside influences. They determine long-range strategic planning needs as well as overall coordination of the journal and newsletter editors, committee chairpersons and task force chairpersons, all contracted services and management staff.
Additionally, as president-elect, Michele serves as the association’s official representative during meetings with organizations, such as the NAON Foundation, Orthopedic Nurses Certification Board, Orthopedic Nurses Journal and American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. Because of this new role, Michele was invited to speak at the OVBC & I-CFO Conference in April 2022. There, she presented on “The Orthopedic Hospitalist – optimizing care with an inpatient NP/PA” and “Preoperative optimization and risk stratification.”
Learn about the orthopedics and sports medicine services we offer at Bon Secours.
