Part I: Shannon Crotwell, RN BSN CCRN
September is Women in Medicine Month—a time to honor and highlight the work and accomplishments of women within the healthcare industry.
To celebrate, we’re recognizing a few of the amazing women Carium has the pleasure of working with and telling their stories.
In part one of this series, we're highlighting Shannon Crotwell, RN BSN CCRN from Atrium Health and Sanger Heart and Vascular.
Shannon Crotwell, RN BSN CCRN
Shannon Crotwell has been a nurse for more than 18 years and specializes in adult cardiac surgery critical care. She’s spent the last eight years focusing on program development and quality improvement initiatives to ensure cardiac surgery patients receive high-quality, cost-effective care.
She chose a career in medicine because she wanted to do something that would have a meaningful impact on the world, and loved the thought of caring for others. The nursing profession offers many career opportunities, and she knew she would never be bored.
She currently works to identify and operationalize system-level quality and programmatic initiatives across multiple sites to improve overall efficiency, promote better outcomes, and transform healthcare.
Are there any obstacles you had to overcome as a woman in healthcare? In your opinion, what can we do better to support gender equity in healthcare?
I would love to see more women leaders mentoring others to support growth opportunities.
Tell us a secret — what is something you love about working in healthcare that most people don’t know?
I love seeing the faces of new nurses when they finally make the connection when learning something new. Critical thinking cannot always be taught in a classroom, it comes with experience.
What advice would you give to other women beginning their journey into healthcare?
Healthcare is exhausting but the most rewarding job outside of being a mother. If you find yourself becoming burnt out, take a break and switch to a different role that will reignite the spark that first attracted you to healthcare.
In your opinion, what could be done better to attract more women into careers within healthcare?
Healthcare systems offering flexible hours and roles, as well as advocating for family, maternity, and paternity leave.
How are you using Carium’s platform to innovate within your organization?
We use Carium’s platform to engage, educate, and enroll adult cardiac surgery patients into a comprehensive program to eliminate barriers to access and disparities in care through enhanced, remote perioperative monitoring.
Stay tuned for other features of the amazing women in medicine this week — like Ari Permutt, RN of Santa Rosa Community Health System and Amber Kelly, RD of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist.
