Humana Nurse Sue Wilk and Taking a Different Nursing Path

Meet Sue Wilk, a Registered Nurse (RN) with a Case Management Nursing (CCM) certification and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Sue is part of Humana’s Quality Improvement/Investigations Team, where she provides guidance to nurses who handle quality of care grievances from Humana members.

Sue is also actively involved with the growth and development opportunities for nurses in her department, providing guidance and expertise in Lean Six Sigma projects to advance their personal career path.

As Sue will tell you, nursing is in her blood. Her mother, her older sister and numerous cousins worked as nurses. Here’s how Sue describes the path she’s taken during her 23 years as an RN:

There are many unique career paths that a person can take being a nurse. Listen to your heart. Don’t choose nursing because it is “easy money.” Choose nursing because that is what makes your heart happy. Find that career path that is YOU. 

Be open to new experiences in nursing school. Perhaps you’ll go into a rotation that you blew off, and find your passion. True story – I remember thinking, “I’m not going to do home health. I want to be a pediatric nurse.” Well, I spent 13 years of my career in home health, and I loved it!

Follow the journey that you are on, and believe in yourself as others believe in you. You will know you’re on the right path when a patient/member tells you THANK YOU for your hard work, and it warms your heart to know that you helped that person.  That is what nursing is about!

When I worked as a home health nurse, I had a non-compliant patient. He was a quadriplegic, angry, had multiple health issues that were only getting worse, and needed to be hospitalized. I was able to sit down and talk to him like he wanted to be talked to – to listen to his fears and concerns and have him express his feelings. He hated doctors, nurses and everything in healthcare because to him barked orders instead of truly listening to him. By providing reflective listening to this patient, I was able to convince him to go to the hospital and have the surgery that saved his life. Sometimes if we can listen to a patient’s concerns, it can help the negativity and change situations in a positive manner.   

Although I don’t work in home health any longer, I’m lucky to work at Humana, a company that is amazing at supporting the growth and development of nurses. From continuing education to a Nurse Career Development Rotation, which I was able to pilot for Humana in 2019, we allow our nurses to grow and develop in a way that suits their individual career paths.

Humana also makes it easy for me to stay involved in the nursing community, and I have the ability to pay it forward for those nurses who need help or are at a standstill in their career path. I love when a Humana nurse approaches me and asks me for guidance on what they can do in their career.

I’m also able to stay involved in the caregiving community. Nurses intersect with caregivers all the time, and that’s why I’m the Vice President of Humana’s Caregivers Network Resource Group. I love being able to share my nursing knowledge and expertise with our Caregivers NRG members. Sharing my stories of being a personal caregiver to my parents, family and friends along with my professional knowledge of healthcare means more guidance and expertise for our caregiver community.

It’s a win-win situation where I can share that, yes, I was a caregivers, and, yes, I am a nurse. I’m here to guide you and listen to what works for you and your situation. Being a caregiver is tough. Being a nurse is tough. But, being both is an honor!