Hi everyone. My name is Andrew Heimann. I am a registered nurse at Hays Medical Center where I work on the Surgical Heart Team as a scrub and circulating nurse. During my 5 year nursing career I have spent time on the intensive care unit, cardiac step down and 3 years ago had the opportunity to work on the Cardiothoracic Surgery Team. This was a fantastic learning opportunity for me as I was able to participate in patient care in a new and more involved/autonomous role. I knew I wanted to be on the critical care side of nursing and this was as critical as the care got in my opinion. One of the biggest perks of this new career path was extensive question and answer time with the surgeons I worked with.

I soon found out that if I simply asked a question, I got a simple answer, but if I researched the question first, the answers became discussions and lessons. This is what I had been craving in my career up to this point. Research allowed me to become an active participant in cardiac surgery and my input soon became valued in by the Heart Team. For this reason, research and the application of the findings are immensely important to nursing in all areas of practice.

As far as my life away from work, I have been married for eight years and have a son who will turn three this July. My wife is incredibly supportive of me working and continuing my education. As for my son, well, he inherited my love of the outdoors. The other two ladies in my life are my Labrador Retrievers who I spend an unhealthy amount of time with. As an avid hunter, I wish I could say I was good at it but most, if not all of the credit goes to the pups.

I wish you all good luck with this summer semester and look forward to completing this course with all of you.