Julia Stallings, NP

Julia Stallings, NP
Cardiac Surgery Telemetry Nurse Practitioner

Prior to becoming a nurse practitioner, I was an RN in the cardiac operating room at UMMC for eight years.

I’ve been an NP for almost two years now.

I love the autonomy the practice provides while still requiring me to have the nursing touch. As a nurse practitioner in the surgical setting, I have the ability to make the patient's surgical experience – often an extremely vulnerable, stressful and anxiety-provoking time – a little less difficult. Seeing patients who are particularly ill and who need large surgical interventions after they are well again is one of the most rewarding parts of my career.

The pandemic has created the dynamic in health care that prohibits loved ones from being with patients during their hospital stays. This has been one of the greatest challenges for all of us, but I have made it my mission to ensure that patients’ lines of communication with their families have remained open at the hospital. While a patient is admitted, our multidisciplinary team works together to communicate the plan for the patient after surgery.

After patients go home from the hospital, having resources and teammates to call on who specialize in various areas – hypertension, anticoagulation, genetics, cardiology, physical therapy, etc. – allows us to provide a standard of care that really is exceptional. Everyone is willing to contribute to the solution when needed. This fosters a feeling of confidence and trust, not only in the people you work with, but in the care that you provide. I’ve always marveled at how amazing and complex the human body is, how much it can endure and how it can heal.

Paired with my love for science and health, it made perfect sense to pursue medicine. I ended up in the cardiovascular realm by happenstance, but it worked out perfectly. I can't picture myself doing anything else now.