SUNA Spotlight: Pam Ceo

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Pam Ceo has been in the nursing field for 31 years and in her words, “started when (she) was just a child.”

Pam is currently employed at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor as a Nurse Practitioner and is officially a Urology Nurse Practitioner after getting certified in April.

“I do a variety of different things for the urology population,” Pam said. “I arrive at about 6:30 a.m. and round, getting an update of what has been happening with the patients for the past 12 hours. When the doctors arrive, I update them on their patients and round with them. I write all of the progress notes, discharge summaries, prescriptions, etc. I will also troubleshoot any problems that arise in the course of a day.”

Pam also does the H & P’s on new admits to the urology service. She sees patients pre-surgery to go over their questionnaire, hospital stay, assess home situation and answer any questions. In addition, Pam works with the Cancer Research Center and does physicals on men who are enrolled in any prostate research study while facilitating the Prostate Cancer Support Group at the hospital. She also reviews and updates the protocols pertaining to urology and gives in-services and updates to the nursing staff for any new procedures or surgeries while keeping the doctor's discharge sheets up to date.

Pam attained her LPN license in 1976 from Washtenaw Community College, her BSN in 1987 from Eastern Michigan University and her MSN in 1993 from Wayne State University.

“I have had many different jobs,” boasts Pam. “I’ve been a nurse's aide, LPN, RN and an NP all at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital.”

Away from the hospital, Pam has a wonderful family that includes her husband of 30 years, Jack, two children, John, 27 and Christina, 24. Both are single, so no grandchildren to spoil and no pets to spoil either. Pam, who grew up in Milan, Mich., and family have lived in Saline, Mich., for 30 years.

“I love doing crafts of all sorts,” said Pam. “I love scrapbooking, card making, jewelry making, things like that. I love to cook and I'm always trying new recipes.”

And as if her job duties don’t seem like enough, Pam is also a member of the Great Lakes chapter of SUNA.

“I first joined SUNA because it was an organization for urology nurses.” Said Pam. “But I have realized over the years that it is so much more. The local chapter has a lot to offer in networking, education and support. The national conferences also offer the same things with the special interest groups for networking and education. I have been involved with SUNA on and off for the past 15 years. I am currently very involved with our local chapter as Vice President and Co-Chair of our annual conference with Shelly Lajiness.

“Networking with other nurses in the urology field has been tremendous. Why re-invent the wheel? It has also offered educational opportunities for me to expand my knowledge of urology. With the coaching of Susanne Quallich, I have written my first article for the Journal of Urologic Nursing. But most of all, (SUNA) has allowed me to meet such wonderful people.”

So why did Pam choose urologic nursing?

“I actually just fell into it years ago,” exclaimed Pam. “My head nurse wanted to know if I was interested in being a case manager for the prostate population. At the time, I was really green and fresh out of nursing school. I knew where the prostate was located, but ‘What the heck did it do?’ was the question. Of course, I said yes and things just went from there. I love working in this field. The doctors are great to work with, so easy going and laid back and where else in medicine is there a little blue pill to make men happy?”

Only in urology, Pam, only in urology…