In this spotlight, we get to know Laurie Hudec, WHNP-BC.

What is your name? 

Laurita Old Hudec, but I go by Laurie.

What are your certifications?

I am a certified Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner.

How long have you been practicing?  Where did you go to school?  

I have been a nurse practitioner for a little more than 13 and half years.  I was a labor and delivery nurse both as an LVN and an RN for more than 20 years.  I attended the Certificate Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner Program at UT Southwestern Medical School at Dallas.  Unfortunately, my program closed about two years after I graduated.

What kind of practice do you work in?

I work in an OB/GYN practice, it just the physician and me.  She delivers the babies and does surgeries and when she is called out of the office, I assume her schedule as well as my own.  I do new OB visits, routine ob visits, well woman visits, colposcopy, IUS placement, order mammogram and genetic testing and sometimes have to deliver bad news.   I do it all and love it.

Do you have a particular specialty? If so, how did you get interested in that specialty?

I am a WHNP but have a special interest in making sure the transgender population gets the care that they need.

Did you always want to be an NP? What made you want to become an NP? What has your career trajectory been?

When I had been an RN for 10 years, I hit a wall, having done everything I could do at my level.  My next step was into management and that is just not my thing, I am very much a people person.  Becoming a Women’s Health NP seemed like the next step in my own evolution, so I applied, was accepted and have never looked back.  Last year, I went back to school and got my Bachelor of Science in Nursing.  I have a Master’s degree in legal studies and I am currently applying to the doctoral program at TCU for the DNP.

The best part of my job is when I have a chance to make a difference in someone’s life.  I am an advocate for my patients, and I find that rewarding.  Nurse Practitioners take the time to listen.  We see patients in the context of their lives and unlike many busy physicians, I have the luxury of time to learn, listen and educate.

What is one fun fact about you?  

There are two actually, I quilt and I have four cats who like to help me quilt.