By Don Sadler
There are a lot of different paths than can lead someone into the perioperative nursing field. But it’s probably safe to say that very few nurses have followed the path taken by Kim Tuemler.
After graduating from the College of Charleston with a degree in mathematics, Kim enrolled in law school at the University of South Carolina. Determined to pursue something more than a traditional legal career, she applied and was selected for the highly competitive United States Marine Corps Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia. Following 10 weeks of physically and mentally grueling training, she was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and returned to complete her law degree.
“I joke that I arrived at Officer Candidate School like Private Benjamin, not fully aware of what I was stepping into,” Kim says. “But I completed it.”
During her 10-year Marine Corps career, Kim earned the rank of Major and served as a criminal trial attorney and legal assistance attorney. She deployed in support of the Global War on Terror after 9/11 as an assistant staff attorney. After marrying her husband Jim, Kim left the Marine Corps to be a stay-at-home mom. During this time, she also started a business as a Pilates and yoga instructor.
When her sons started going to high school and college, Kim decided she was ready to do something different from criminal law. As a Pilates and yoga instructor, she had worked with people with Parkinson’s disease and fibromyalgia.
“I enjoyed the hands-on aspects of this, which gave me the idea of becoming a nurse,” Kim says.
After obtaining her BSN from Medical University of South Carolina in 2019, Kim went straight to work in the operating room.
“Obviously, the OR isn’t the Marine Corps, but the teamwork and camaraderie are similar,” she says. “Everyone is working together to care for the patient.”
While attending a conference in 2023, Kim first learned about the hazards of surgical smoke to the perioperative staff.
“I was horrified,” she says. “I knew the smoke smelled bad, but I just figured breathing it was part of being an OR nurse. I had no idea it was so toxic and hazardous and was making so many nurses and surgeons sick.”
Kim grew even angrier when she learned that the dangers of surgical smoke have been known for decades. “That just blew me away,” she says. “Going back to 1996, NIOSH and the CDC knew that surgical smoke is carcinogenic and recommended evacuation, but it wasn’t mandated. And nobody was telling nurses about the danger.”
That’s when Kim decided to put her legal experience to work to try to get surgical smoke legislation passed in her home state of South Carolina. She asked Greg Hembree, a state senator for whom she once worked as assistant solicitor, to sponsor a surgical smoke evacuation bill in the Senate, where it passed unanimously last March. The bill is now awaiting a hearing in the House of Representatives.
While working to get surgical smoke legislation passed in South Carolina, Kim met Brenda Ulmer, who has long been a passionate advocate for such legislation. “Brenda has been my mentor and my go-to person – I couldn’t have done any of this without her,” says Kim.
In 2024, Kim established a consulting practice – Wylie-Tuemler Consulting LLC – that combines her legal perspective and nursing knowledge to help attorneys and businesses navigate the complexities of healthcare law and legal challenges. Her tagline is: An attorney’s perspective, a nurse’s knowledge.
“Most nurse attorneys were nurses first, but I’m the opposite,” she says. “I ally myself with nursing more than I do with legal work. Nursing is consistently listed as the most trusted profession in the U.S. and I believe that all nurses should embrace this.”
In addition to running her consulting practice and fitness studio and advocating for surgical smoke evacuation, Kim works part-time as a surgical nurse at Roper St. Francis Healthcare. She also serves as adjunct faculty at the Medical University of South Carolina, where she is studying for her Ph.D.
“I started my Ph.D. because I was encouraged by my college of nursing professors and mentors who I reached out to about the surgical smoke legislation,” Kim says. “I’m pursuing my Ph.D. in the area of surgical smoke research. My hope is to study the long-term effects of surgical smoke inhalation on the healthcare team, especially OR nurses and surgical techs.”
Working part-time in the OR is Kim’s escape.
“Nobody can reach me to talk about legislative stuff, and I don’t have to think about my Ph.D. dissertation,” she says. “All I’m focused on is patient care. This reminds me why I’m doing everything that I’m doing.”
Kim believes it’s important for young nurses to become actively involved in public health policymaking. “I hated policy when I was in nursing school, but look how that turned out,” she says. “Nurses must get involved in everything that’s going on in healthcare or things will never improve.”
Through a local program called Empowered Minds, Kim goes into public schools one day each week to teach young children yoga techniques. “We all need to learn techniques like these to cope better and regulate ourselves,” she says.
Kim and her husband, Jim, are avid outdoorspeople and especially enjoy snow skiing and fishing. They also travel extensively – their first date was in Paris.
“We love doing things together as a family as much as possible,” says Kim. “There’s no way I could do all of this without the incredible support of my husband.”
Professional Spotlight Nomination
"*" indicates required fields
