SLU Nursing Faculty Member Helps Students Explore Specialized Career Paths
08/18/2020
While moonlighting in an emergency medicine department in 1999, Chris Hemmer, DNP, would go to the operating room after his shift had finished to watch orthopaedic surgeons fix a hip or reduce a broken wrist.
Recognizing his curiosity and interest in their field, orthopaedic surgeons mentored Hemmer, setting him on a path into specialized nursing, one he has now pursued as a practitioner for more than 20 years, and one that informs his teaching in Saint Louis University’s Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing.
Helping students embark on specialized and unique career paths in nursing is one of Hemmer’s specialties and one of the reasons he chose to become a nurse himself.
“I’ve always had a desire to help others,” Hemmer, assistant professor of nursing, said. “This field allows for one to explore multiple directions. The education that you receive is an excellent foundation which can be expanded in innumerable directions.”
“We see nurses being utilized on a daily basis and area such as forensic medicine, insurance, rehabilitation, correctional facilities, oil rig platforms, cruise ships and even at NASA,” he continued. “Most people when they think of nursing may think of bedside and hospital-based practice. However, a nursing degree allows one to pursue numerous career paths.”
A board-certified adult nurse practitioner, orthopedic nurse practitioner and a fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, Hemmer spent years as a professional pursuing specialized training in spinal issues. On a given day, he would treat any number of common spine complaints from herniated disks to spinal stenosis to compression fractures to more complex degenerative conditions affecting the spine.
The work was highly collaborative, he said, an approach that helps streamline and fast-track patients’ treatment.
"Over the year I spent in the ER, I learned a lot about orthopedics by discussing cases with the orthopedic surgeons on call,” Hemmer said. “This collaborative effort is in the best interest of the patient and uses each member of the team to their fullest extent."
"As an NP, I can evaluate the patient sooner and begin the treatment process, meaning they don’t have to delay treatment while we wait for a surgeon," he continued. "If the patient has a more critical problem, then advanced imaging such as MRI/ CT can be ordered and consultation with a spine surgeon can be expedited. This process allows patients to be evaluated sooner, decreases the risk of mortality and morbidity and leads to a quicker working diagnosis and treatment plan."
After an invitation to join a private practice, Hemmer was able to specialize in treating adult spinal issues and spine surgery nursing. As a nurse practitioner in spine surgery, Hemmer evaluates and treats adult patients with spinal complaints from simple overuse symptoms to aggressive pathology such as tumors.
As a member of SLU’s nursing faculty, Hemmer teaches primarily in the graduate nurse practitioner program, preparing future nurse practitioners to care for patients in areas like primary care nursing. He shares his passion as students learn about evaluating musculoskeletal situations, an area that includes spinal issues.
Hemmer also serves others off-campus as a volunteer with medical missions, including with SLU’s chapter of Global Brigades. Through his volunteer work, he's treated patients close to home in Missouri, and far afield in Honduras.
In Chris's Words
I had an excellent mentor, Terrence Piper, M.D., who took me under his wing and taught me everything that I currently now know. He is such an excellent surgeon as well as mentor that I’ve continued to work with Dr. Piper for 22 years now. I owe much of my success personally and professionally to the kindness, generosity and patience that he expressed to me over the last 22 years.
I had previously presented on numerous musculoskeletal topics including radiology lectures to SLU’s nurse practitioner students. I was invited by Joanne Thanavaro, DNP, in years past to lecture to her adult nurse practitioner students. Over time we began a professional relationship and later, I was approached and asked if I would consider becoming a full-time faculty member. I remember being honored to be asked to be part of such a prestigious academic institution.
Do not be afraid to accept challenges. It is okay to make yourself a little uncomfortable in the clinical and academic settings.
Seek out opportunities to learn and challenge yourself.
Do not accept the status quo. The only dumb question is the one that you do not ask. In situations where the outcome is not necessarily the most desirable, utilize it as a learning opportunity to improve the next time.
As part of my desire to help others, I have volunteered to serve on medical missions at various times.
An especially memorable opportunity to serve came through our SLU chapter of Global Brigades. On that trip to a region of Honduras, we were able to evaluate and treat hundreds of patients for common primary care issues. It was a blessing to be able to see and help these patients as well as to foster students’ development and learning on that trip.
I enjoy serving on these medical mission trip because it gives me a chance to return just a small portion of the blessings that I have received.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated 2020 as the “Year of the Nurse and Nurse Midwives,” in order to highlight the need for increased numbers of nurses and midwives worldwide. As part of the year’s celebrations, and to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of famed nursing advocate Florence Nightingale, the University is telling the stories of SLU nurses who impact communities on and beyond campus through their teaching, outreach and research in a limited special series.
Story by Amelia Flood, University Marketing and Communications