Profiles in Success

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Tamara Tripp, MS, RN, GNP/ANP-C

Davidson, NC
BS/MS Degree, Class of 1991

Leader in NP Geriatric Care

After working 10 years as a nurse, Tamara Tripp traveled as an RN working in emergency departments up and down the east coast. Being interviewed for a position at University Hospital's ER in 1987, she was asked: "Where do you see yourself in five years?"

"I want to have a master's degree," Tripp replied.

The recruiter told Tripp about the program offered at the College of Nursing. "I enrolled full-time the next fall, and in four years had both BS and MS degrees."

Tripp took her education for geriatric clinical nurse specialist (CNS) back to her home state of North Carolina to work at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte. She enjoyed her work as a geriatric specialist serving the entire hospital but realized that the "power of the pen," or writing patient orders, always fell to the physicians. "Nurse practitioners, however, can write orders and I wanted that formal power to have more impact on older patients care." While continuing at Presbyterian, Tripp consulted with a sub-acute rehabilitation unit in the hospital. "There I was more involved in long-term care, experiencing the influence on geriatric care I could have."

Tripp earned a Post-Master's Geriatric NP certificate in 1995 from the University of North Carolina – Greensboro. She later added Adult NP training. She worked for Nalle Clinic as an NP in nursing homes for 11 years. "I was the first NP in Charlotte caring for nursing home residents on a full-time basis," she said.

In 2006, she took a job as an NP with Evercare, a large provider of healthcare plans for people with long-term or advanced illnesses. A year later, Tripp was promoted to Clinical Services Manager, and now manages eight nursing homes and supervises six NPs in a three-county area.  

"Any NP may tell you that about 65 percent of their job is caring for the patient and the other 35 percent is paperwork," noted Tripp. "Now in management as well, I am a customer service manager, building and maintaining a relationship between the residents, nursing homes and the company and, of course, doing a lot of business reports. There is a lot of growth in the NP role here, especially for NPs not initially trained in geriatrics."