Employment History:

Published Works:

Public Speaking Experience:

Why F is an Expert:
All topics with regards to orthopedic, neurological and medical-surgical nursing. We did a lot of work with pre- and post-operative hip patients. We did a lot of knee replacements. For those patients seeking back surgery, we had disc surgery and the physi

Best Advice:
Work collaboratively amongst your peers in your own unit and in collaboration with your physicians and other departments. Try and get along with everybody and work together. You’ve got to be able to work cross-generationally. Bridge the gap between how you perceive things and how other folks perceive things.

Passionate about:
In nursing, it is about patient care. I’ve fought a few battles for a few different patients over time. Outside of work, I have been doing cancer walk fundraisers for a while through the American Cancer Society – my mom, sister and I are each cancer survivors.

Biography Excerpt:
Patricia Skivington Mullinix, RN, BSN is a registered nurse whose greatest passion is providing her patients with the adequate, proper healthcare they need when they need it. Throughout her more than 34 years of experience, she worked at Central Baptist Hospital, where she worked diligently in the orthopedics, neurological surgery and medical-surgical divisions. When she started on January 8, 2007 at Eastern State Hospital, she was ready to take on the next chapter of her life – as a psychiatric nurse and a cancer survivor.

     

Cambridge Who's Who: What advice can you offer people aspiring to work in this profession?  
PATRICIA SKIVINGTON MULLINIX RN, BSN:  I always told my daughters that if they pursued a career in nursing, they better be prepared because it is a very demanding job; it’s not the way it was when I first started. Nursing is a tough industry to get into; make sure to receive the highest education possible and have a strong desire to help others; also, pick a specialty in nursing. It is a strenuous job with long hours loaded with high responsibility because peoples’ lives are in your hands. The nurse is the one that has to mediate a lot of issues between the doctors and patients. They also have to take care of many issues in which the doctors are not involved. Nurses are ultimately responsible for the patients’ health and safety. If anything goes wrong, they take the brunt of it. With that said, if you choose to go into it now, have an open mind, be assertive and have a solid background in your core classes. As far as to what type of nursing, whether you just want an associate’s degree or to earn a bachelor’s degree, my personal feeling is that you have to decide that on their own. Having been through it, it’s much easier going through school when you don’t have the obligations of a family and work to distract you. Stick to it; even if it’s on the back burner for a while, you can go back. Make sure your job is a fit. I had one job I stayed at for 10 months and had to leave because I could tell it wasn’t right for me.

How do you remain current in your profession?
I subscribe to a broad-spectrum of nursing journals, including the American Journal of Nursing, Orthopaedic Nursing, Nursing Made Incredibly Easy! and Nursing2009. We have to maintain our CEUs [Continuing Education Units] – it used to be biannual, but now it’s every year. I take topics that are current in the field – things I either need refreshing on, or an area that is newer to the field. I attend workshops at the hospital or in the vicinity.

What makes you a valuable resource in your industry?
You get to become a valuable resource after you’ve worked on the floor and worked with the physicians for a number of years. You get a feel for what you need to do.