On right: Sandra McPeak
By Matt Skoufalos
Sandra McPeak, RN, BSN, Ophthalmology Staff Nurse at Monroe Carroll Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt
For the last three-and-a-half decades, Sandra McPeak has devoted her career to the ophthalmological and surgical care of adults and children. A dedicated nurse at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, she’s spent nearly the entirety of her career not only in one specialty, but almost all of it in one health system.
In high school, McPeak enrolled in a vocational-technical program that enabled her to become a certified nurse’s aid, and then leveraged that experience to become a nursing major in college. She graduated from the Medical College of Virginia, which later merged with Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
“My dad always thought it would be great for me to work in nursing because I’d always have a job,” McPeak said. “I’m happy that I chose nursing as a career.”
Shortly after graduating in 1991, McPeak worked as a floor nurse in Michigan for a few years, but then moved back to Nashville, because she wanted to do something different. She joined the Vanderbilt University Health System in 1995, and began working in an operating room dedicated to ophthalmology. As the children’s OR and ophthalmology ORs were in the same building at the same time, McPeak gained experience working with pediatric and adult patients. When Vanderbilt built its children’s hospital in the early 2000s, she moved in full-time.
“Working with children in general, we go anywhere from the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) baby to the football-player-sized patient – lots of different sizes and developmental stages,” McPeak said. “Ophthalmology-wise, there are lots of different subspecialties: pediatric ophthalmology, ocular plastics; glaucoma, retina, and cornea specialties.”
“All of those are fellowship-trained, so we have fellows and residents here training with surgeons,” she said. “I like the teaching atmosphere; we really get to know our residents and our fellows. They become our friends.”
For as much as McPeak is comfortable managing other nursing work, ophthalmology is her first love, and stands out in contrast to the other surgical services offered at Vanderbilt, particularly pediatric patients. She enjoys the opportunity of working to help the youngest patients, from babies to preschoolers, manage their eye exams; and she takes special care to put children at ease with the surgical suite.
“There’s a lot of different ways to try to get their cooperation,” McPeak said. “We have toys, cellphones with videos. We let them watch something afterwards; we can give medications to help them calm down. We don’t like them to come back distraught. it helps with separation.”
“I try to read the room,” she said. “Some kids are very well-prepared for surgery, and some don’t know. We try to find their knowledge base and education level, and I try to give opportunities for questions from the child and the parent.”
McPeak also puts effort into studying up on her patients prior to their procedures, the better to support their needs as well as those of the surgical team. In addition to reading up on their medical histories and personal backgrounds, she feels more prepared to deliver the best possible standard of care throughout their stay. That effort enables her to effectively facilitate a high standard of care regardless of the physician or anesthesiologist alongside whom she’s working, their level of experience, or the nature of the case itself.
“We work with pharmacies for things; we have a supplier for instruments and sterilization,” McPeak said. “Working with residents, nurses, and the learners that we have, there’s a lot of teamwork. The equipment is continually changing, and we’re always learning new things. It is hard sometimes to keep up with that, but it’s very cool.”
McPeak also works to keep up with the technology, medical equipment and new procedures in her profession as they emerge. Throughout her career, she’s enjoyed watching techniques evolve to minimally invasive practices, and watched as patients’ outcomes have improved with them.
“I think pediatric nursing is very rewarding; we have a little more fun at work,” McPeak said. “When this facility opened up, I was asked to come and just work with kids, and I said yes because I just love it.”
“I’m proud of the work we do here,” she said. “I wouldn’t have stayed all this time if I wasn’t. We have a lot of awesome, smart and kind people. I really enjoy eye anatomy, and working at a trauma and regional center, we have a lot of children who have a lot of health concerns, not just locally, but from Alabama, Kentucky and Virginia. I think Vanderbilt Children’s is a great institution.”
As intensely as she cares for some of the most vulnerable patients in the hospital, McPeak, like many surgical nurses, occasionally wonders how their recoveries go. Then there are other patients who have required consistent care to manage their conditions throughout childhood, and she’s seen them age from children into teenagers.
The connections they share sometimes cross over one another in interesting ways. When McPeak’s daughter, Amy, became a nurse, she joined a pediatric cardiology unit in which she eventually realized she’d been caring for a cardiac patient that her mother had treated previously for glaucoma.
The two also spend a considerable amount of family time together. Amy’s daughter, Aubrey, is “is the best thing ever,” in the eyes of her grandmother. Sandra McPeak also has two more adult children, sons Andrew and Matthew, with her husband of 42 years, Mark.
When she’s not at work or spending time with family, Sandra McPeak is deeply invested in her church community at The Donelson Fellowship in Nashville, Tennessee. In her off-hours, she also participates in a book club from which she even recruited a co-worker at VCH. Her recent pick was “The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell,” a story of a child with ocular albinism, which was recommended to her by a scrub tech in her unit. Sandra McPeak also enjoys recreating in nature, especially at the beach.
Professional Spotlight Nomination
