Lizzie B. Cotton

Professional Designation(s)/Title:
BSN RN CPN, Master’s Student PNP-PC

How long have you been a member of SPUC?
Three months

Why did you choose the Pediatric Urgent Care field? As a pediatric emergency nurse, I love helping kids who just don’t feel good. I love successful moments when my patients tell me their shot “didn’t even hurt!” or when I get to sing Disney songs with them while I place their IV. Going to the doctor or hospital can be scary, and I like to make it a little less so. Getting to send them home after a positive experience within a hospital visit is so rewarding. By treating chronic and acute needs and providing education in urgent care settings I hope to reduce patient likelihood of an inpatient admission, and provide a pleasant experience, even when they are sick. This is what drives me to pursue urgent care medicine; getting to fix “boo-boos” and help bridge the gap between preventative well visits and the emergency room or inpatient care. My goal as a pediatric provider is to educate families to utilize the facilities and resources that best meet their needs, and to make the process of seeing said provider less stressful. By assisting in the understanding of which area of the health care system to utilize and when, I hope to reduce health care costs system wide, decrease the number of non-urgent visits to the emergency room, reduce patient and parent anxiety, and increase the average time primary providers can spend with their patients in well visits. As a soon-to-be Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, I am excited to enter this field and work towards this goal.

Please list a few of your most recent accomplishments:
Most recently, I was named a recipient of the 2019 Emergency Nurses Association Foundation Endowed Graduate Scholarship from the ENA Foundation for my enthusiasm and commitment to emergency nursing education. Additionally, this year I presented the poster, “Ketamine Use in Pediatric Care” at the WakeMed Pediatric and Neonatal Conference, was the Children’s Emergency Department Unit Council Acting Interim Co-chair, and initiated the Children’s Emergency Department Journal Club.

Why did you join SPUC?
As a pediatric nurse, and soon graduating PNP student, I look forward to serving and promoting the needs of pediatric patients in an urgent care setting as a provider. I joined SPUC to meet other professionals interested in urgent care and experienced urgent care providers, and gather pediatric urgent care specific information as I enter this emerging field.

Short Biography:
After graduating from Appalachian State University with a Bachelor’s in Psychology, where I had spent my summers working at a camp for children with chronic illnesses and disabilities, I found myself called to pursue a career in healthcare. In May 2015, I graduated with from the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program with Highest Honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I then worked at NC Children’s Hospital on a general pediatric medicine and epileptic monitoring unit and then the Children’s Health Center Perianesthesia Unit at Duke University Hospital. I am currently a Clinical Nurse II in the Children’s Emergency Department at WakeMed Hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina. I am actively involved in this department, as Chair of the unit Education Committee, Co-chair of the Social Committee, preceptor, and former acting interim Co-chair of the CED Unit Council. I have committed myself to supporting others through various community service and fundraising activities, nurse and patient advocacy projects, and personal passion projects, including Special Olympics, Layers of Dignity, and Reach Out and Read. I am currently a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner student at Duke University, hoping to work in a pediatric urgent care upon graduation in December 2019.