Celebrating APP Week: Sara Douglas

As we kick off Advanced Prac­tice Provider Week, we’re high­light­ing the incred­i­ble work of our team mem­bers who make a dif­fer­ence in patients’ lives every day. First up is Sarah Dou­glas, AGAC-NP, an Acute Care Nurse Prac­ti­tion­er who works in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Dr. Adam Rey­burn. Sarah shares her jour­ney into health­care, what inspires her in her work, and the lessons she’s learned from her patients.

Q: What is your role?
A: I am an Acute Care Nurse Prac­ti­tion­er for Dr. Adam Reyburn.

Q: What first sparked your inter­est in health­care?
A: Tak­ing a health occu­pa­tions class at Quin­cy Senior High sparked my inter­est in health­care. Through that expe­ri­ence, I dis­cov­ered the many avenues the field has to offer and learned what it means to be a Reg­is­tered Nurse. My pas­sion for help­ing oth­ers began even ear­li­er, with my first job as a non-cer­ti­fied nurs­ing assis­tant at a local nurs­ing home. In that role, I saw first­hand the dif­fer­ence com­pas­sion­ate care can make in some­one’s life, inspir­ing me to become a cer­ti­fied nurs­ing assis­tant and, ulti­mate­ly, to pur­sue nurs­ing school.

What inspired me to become an Advanced Prac­tice Provider was my time work­ing in crit­i­cal care. There, I encoun­tered patients at the most vul­ner­a­ble moments of their lives. One pro­found expe­ri­ence involved car­ing for an elder­ly patient who was admit­ted in severe dis­tress. Despite the com­plex­i­ty of their con­di­tion, I spent extra time lis­ten­ing to their fears and hopes, advo­cat­ing for their needs, and sup­port­ing their fam­i­ly through uncer­tain­ty. Wit­ness­ing this patient grad­u­al­ly regain strength and return home was deeply reward­ing, rein­forc­ing my com­mit­ment to pro­vid­ing holis­tic, patient-cen­tered care.

In crit­i­cal care, you often face immense chal­lenges — fast-paced deci­sions, emo­tion­al moments, and the con­stant need to bal­ance med­ical exper­tise with empa­thy. These expe­ri­ences taught me the impor­tance of resilience, team­work, and active lis­ten­ing. They also shaped my belief that every patient deserves to be treat­ed as a unique indi­vid­ual, not just as a set of symptoms.

My val­ues — com­pas­sion, integri­ty, and a ded­i­ca­tion to life­long learn­ing — align per­fect­ly with the role of an Advanced Prac­tice Provider. Each day, I strive to make a mean­ing­ful impact, guid­ed by my com­mit­ment to advo­cate for my patients and help them nav­i­gate their jour­neys toward heal­ing. This sense of pur­pose con­tin­ues to dri­ve me for­ward, remind­ing me why I chose this path and what I hope to accom­plish as I grow in my career.

Q: What expe­ri­ences have shaped your jour­ney to becom­ing an Acute Care Nurse Prac­ti­tion­er?
A: Dur­ing my years as a crit­i­cal care nurse, I was con­stant­ly remind­ed of the pro­found respon­si­bil­i­ty and priv­i­lege that comes with car­ing for peo­ple at their most vul­ner­a­ble. Wit­ness­ing the resilience of patients and being a part of their recov­ery deeply moved me.

It was expe­ri­ences like this that crys­tal­lized my desire to become an Acute Care Nurse Prac­ti­tion­er. I longed for a role where I could not only guide patients through their most vul­ner­a­ble moments in the hos­pi­tal but also sup­port them as they reclaimed their lives after dis­charge. See­ing patients over­come immense chal­lenges and grad­u­al­ly regain their inde­pen­dence fills me with immense pride and grat­i­tude. Each jour­ney reaf­firms my com­mit­ment to this pro­fes­sion and reminds me dai­ly of the impact com­pas­sion­ate, holis­tic care can have — not just on indi­vid­ual patients, but on their fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ties as well. This sense of pur­pose con­tin­ues to inspire and moti­vate me, mak­ing every day in this role mean­ing­ful and worthwhile.

Q: What is most mean­ing­ful about the work you do each day?
A: For me, it’s the lives I touch and the rela­tion­ships I’ve built along the way. It’s about forg­ing gen­uine human con­nec­tions with those I care for — learn­ing their sto­ries, under­stand­ing their fam­i­lies, and dis­cov­er­ing who they are as indi­vid­u­als beyond their diagnoses.

One moment that stands out to me is when I cared for a patient who began shar­ing sto­ries from their child­hood — mem­o­ries of sum­mer after­noons with their sib­lings and the com­fort of home-cooked meals. As they spoke, I saw how these mem­o­ries shaped their fears and hopes about their health. Lis­ten­ing to their sto­ries allowed me to under­stand not just their med­ical needs, but the deep­er con­cerns that weighed on their mind. That con­ver­sa­tion remind­ed me of the true heart of my pro­fes­sion: meet­ing peo­ple where they are, hon­or­ing their expe­ri­ences, and sup­port­ing them as individuals.

It’s these con­nec­tions — these glimpses into anoth­er person’s world — that make every day mean­ing­ful and remind me, time and again, why this work tru­ly matters.

Q: What is one les­son you have learned from your patients?
A: One les­son I have learned from my patients is the impor­tance of tru­ly lis­ten­ing. Although our days are often hec­tic, I find that time seems to slow dur­ing those moments spent focused on my patients. It’s not about doing all the talk­ing as a provider — it’s about being present and atten­tive. For instance, one patient came in com­plain­ing of headaches, but by lis­ten­ing close­ly, I learned that stress from a recent life event was the under­ly­ing issue. These small details, uncov­ered through gen­uine con­ver­sa­tion, often reveal what mat­ters most and help guide the best plan of care. My patients have taught me that it’s the sto­ry behind the symp­tom that deserves our attention.

Q: What do you enjoy doing out­side of work?
A: I enjoy spend­ing time with my fam­i­ly. I love being a mom and a wife. I am a mom to three beau­ti­ful chil­dren. I enjoy run­ning — it’s my ​“me time” of the day. How­ev­er, my favorite way to recharge is to sit down and watch part of a movie with every­one in the evening before bed.

Inter­est­ed in sched­ul­ing an appoint­ment with Sara? Learn more about Sara and sched­ule an appoint­ment, vis­it https://​www​.quin​cymed​group​.com/​p​h​y​s​i​c​i​a​n​s​/​s​a​r​a​-​d​o​uglas.