Humana Nurses: Tracey Hatfield and Care Management

Close your eyes, and picture a nurse. Is your mental image someone in scrubs working in a hospital or doctor’s office? Do you picture someone helping patients on the phone, or coming to a patient’s home to provide care? 

There are 4 million registered nurse in the U.S. – and nearly 10,000 nurses working at Humana. Nurses shape the way Humana serves our members and patients, providing a range of support and serving in roles beyond traditional bedside care. 

In honor of Nurses Month and an impressive 20-year run as America’s most trusted profession, we’re profiling four people who represent the broad and diverse nature of Humana nurses.   

Meet Tracey Hatfield, a Humana registered nurse (RN) who works in care management working as a Manager with a team of Nurses that provide telephonic support to people with chronic conditions. 

From the time she was little, Tracey wanted to be a nurse and knew she had a nurturing touch. Here’s how she describes her 16 years as a RN and working on as a care management Humana nurse: 

Humana was one of those organizations that I heard a lot about before coming to work here. I first learned about Humana nurses from some friends during a time when I wanted something different and a better work/life balance. I had no idea what a treasure I found when I came to Humana – such a hidden treasure, with all that Humana has to offer our nurses.

Humana offers tuition reimbursement and encourages career advancement for nurses. I’m taking advantage of this and currently pursuing my Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). Then there’s networking – the Nursing Advisory Council, Network Resource Groups and MentorMe, all of which offer so many ways for growth and development opportunities. And that’s just a small amount of what Humana can and does for our nurses to invest in their individual future.

I’ve always wanted to be a nurse. As a nurse, you want to make an impact on anyone you come into contact with, and I feel there are a few times I’ve made a big impact. Before coming to Humana, I was a Dialysis Nurse for 12 years, including as a Home Dialysis Nurse. One patient I particularly remember was receiving in-center hemodialysis, and he was a depressed young man who had given up.  He didn’t want to do dialysis 3 days a week any longer. He didn’t have a life, and he didn’t want to take medication as prescribed because of his depression. Although the Nephrologist didn’t initially like the idea, she agreed to let me try to give him back just a little bit of himself by teaching him about home dialysis.

I trained the patient and his family, and it was a challenge – but one I was up for. He was afraid of needles, and he couldn’t read. We trained for 6 weeks, and I made him charts with pictures and labeled pictures to help him set up the machine at home. I worked with him every day, 5 days per week, and he did very well. By the end of our 6 weeks of training, he understood how to care for himself, he could insert his own needles, and he felt good about himself. 

He went home to continue his treatments, and he was able to get out and enjoy his life more. He got back to doing the things he loved to do, he was taking his medications as prescribed, and his lab work was amazingly good. He was even put on a transplant list, something that hadn’t been possible before because of his non-compliance. A little bit of nurturing, trust, believing in someone and encouraging them to do better – one of the best feelings in the world is when you see a patient succeed. 

What I do at Humana is different than my days seeing patients in person. Care management nurses are a whole different type of nurse. We cannot see members/patients, so we must rely on all our other senses, including listening. Sometimes, all a member/patient needs is a listening ear and to know someone that cares is there to support them and assist with their needs. That is what care management nurses do best. We take care of members/patients, listen to their needs and curb their fears so we can focus on managing their chronic conditions. 

Listening is an incredibly important part of care management. Bedside nurses or hospital/clinic case managers can visually see a patient. They can notice things just by sight that may help them notice a symptom. Small things matter for telephonic care managers, like hearing background noises or listening to someone’s tone of voice. 

In-person nurses are also able to provide a hug or a smile, and sometimes something as simple as that can really get a patient to open up and share their concerns. As telephonic care managers, all we have is our voices. Our members/patients can hear and feel our smiles though. I always tell my team to go in smiling when talking to a member/patient on the phone, and the conversation will go much better.