An eight-hour shift can be exhausting on its own, but for Kimberly Holzmacher, MSN, AGPCNP-BC, her workday is only getting started. As one of our newest advanced practice providers (APPs), Holzmacher typically starts work on our Stroke Service before 5 a.m. and often works until 8 p.m. or later. For this week’s “Spotlight” interview, Holzmacher talks about why she’s been drawn to helping patients with stroke since nursing school, how this work compares to working in the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center, and the joys and difficulties of her job. She also shares her loves of cooking, traveling, and her six-year-old yellow lab.
What are your current responsibilities within the Neurology Department?
What does a typical day look like for you? I am an APP (Nurse Practitioner) with the Stroke Service. My typical day starts before 5 a.m. and is busy; I’m usually not out before 8 p.m. I help manage our patients admitted to the very busy stroke inpatient service.
Before coming to the stroke service you worked in the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center. How does that work compare to what you’re doing now?
With the Brain Tumor Center, which I loved, it was primarily outpatient. This role is inpatient. Even with their obvious differences, the core is very similar. Both roles require a significant amount of patient education and helping patients through very difficult acute diagnoses. Getting them through the initial shock of it all and helping guide them through their journeys.
Working at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center was a blessing and a joy. I learned so much from that experience between what patients taught me and what I learned from my colleagues that I have been able to translate into my daily practice. I learned how to have the difficult conversation with grace and sensitivity, and how to continue to support patients and their families through the most difficult challenges.
How did you make the decision to join the stroke service?
My love for stroke extends back to before I was a nurse, when I was a stroke clinical research coordinator at UNC. It was the reason I went to nursing school. I have always been a neuro nurse, having worked on the neuro floor before spending nearly eight years in the neuro ICU at UNC. I was even the interim comprehensive stroke program coordinator for several months while our stroke coordinator was on leave. Throughout my career, I have cared for a lot of patients with both ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes, and this area of focus has always been interesting for me. When the opportunity to re-enter that area presented itself to me, I was happy to accept the challenge.
What do you enjoy most about your work?
I love interacting with patients and their families. I find great pleasure in helping them understand their diagnosis and their treatment moving forward. Describing things in easy-to-understand ways without oversimplifying things is best to ensure that they understand.
What’s the hardest part of your job?
Since I am still orienting, I would say even despite what I do know there is so much that I am still learning. Steep learning curve for sure.
What are you most looking forward to once the COVID-19 pandemic is over?
Being able to shake hands with my patients and even hug them! Being able to see patients' faces and have them see mine. It has been such a hard thing wearing a mask for my hearing impaired and aphasic patients. They count on reading our faces to understand.
What other passions or hobbies do you have outside of the Department?
I have a 6-year-old yellow lab named Montgomery who is my world. I love cooking and traveling, especially to the beach!