Nurse Innovators - Meet Deanna Gillingham RN, CCM

Sarah Matacale, BSN, RN

By definition, an innovator is "a person who introduces new methods, ideas, or products". Allnurses.com will be featuring nurses that are innovators as a regular series to encourage other nurses to "think outside the box" and create new ideas for themselves and their colleagues in the healthcare industry. It will also help nurses connect with each other and reach out through the resources that these innovators have paved our path toward.

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce Deanna Gillingham RN, CCM, The Stay at Home Nurse. She is a true nurse innovator. She practiced nursing for 17 years at the bedside before an ankle and foot injury forced her to rethink her career focus. She needed a desk job. She quickly found a position with a large insurance company as a case manager, with a condition of employment being to become certified in case management. As she began searching out study materials to prepare for the exam, Deanna found it difficult to find any good resources. She ended up doing the material research on her own. She passed the certification exam and became a Certified Case Manager. After her success, Deanna shared her information with other case managers studying for their exam and voila, they passed as well!

Here is where Deanna's innovative mind brought her hard work, dedication, and passion to fruition. She decided to write and publish her own case management study guide called: CCM Certification Made Easy: Your guide to passing the certified case manager exam. Along with this, Deanna developed a workbook to go along with the test prep book. Deanna opted to self-publish her book due to the extent of time it takes to get a book to print through a publisher. She found that if she had gone through a publisher, her book would have been outdated before it was published!

Deanna created a website called Case Management Study Guide that offers information and support to fellow case managers as well as an online case management certification review course. She also formed a facebook page called The Stay at Home Nurse. Amongst her biggest challenges has been learning to write. As she says "after writing nurses notes for over 20 years, writing a complete sentence was difficult, let alone a paragraph or a book!" The technical portion of the career path has been a challenge as well. She ultimately took on a business partner who handles the tech portion so that she can focus on her own strengths.

When asked about career role models, Deanna stated, "I have a lot! Laura Mitchell RN, BSN was a role model who took me under her wing and encouraged me to really grow in my profession as a nurse. Her inspiration and leadership inspired me to seek out opportunities before I felt I was ready for them.

The second would be Anne Llewellyn, RN-BC,MS, BHSA, CCM, CRRN who has become a role model and mentor. She has a wealth of knowledge and expertise and is dedicated to sharing it in order to promote the practice of case management and case managers".

As far as advice that Deanna would give to aspiring nurse entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, Deanna encourages doing something each day toward reaching your goal. Baby steps so as not to become overwhelmed. Ask a lot of "how and why" questions when a problem is introduced. Thinking of how to solve a problem and delving deeper into the why questions.

Deanna believes mentoring the next generation of nurses to elevate the quality of nursing professionals is one of the single most important issues to face over the coming years. Addressing issues such as bullying and staffing ratios will help to ensure that the next generation can properly care for patients without burnout and risk of losing good nurses.

For more information regarding case management or materials and support groups for studying for the certification exam see Deanna's facebook page or webpage listed above!

Nurse Innovators - Meet Deanna Gillingham RN, CCM

About Sarah Matacale, BSN, RN

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