Perspectives Winter/Spring 2019

26 | DR. PALLAVI PATEL COLLEGE OF HEALTH CARE SCIENCES ALUMNI Perspectives Education PA ys Off Alumna Reflects on Becoming a Chief Operating Officer BY KANDEE GRIFFITH, M.ED. , M.S.H.R.M., PA, AND CHARLENE BOLTON, ED.D., PA-C A benefit of being a physician assistant (PA) is the flexibility with which a person can move through the profession. The educational training the program offers allows graduates to move from one specialty to another without additional educational training. Leadership opportunities also are available for PAs, as is evident in the career path of Questa Tingler, M.M.S., PA-C. Tingler, a class of 2012 alumna, began her health pro- fessions career as a registered nurse before becoming a PA. She is the chief operating officer (COO) of AppleCare in Georgia. Tingler came to campus for an interview to speak about her exciting and inspirational journey. Q : Tell us about yourself. A : I graduated from the PA program in Jacksonville in 2012. I am employed by Apple Care Immediate Care—an organization that has 12 clinics and an additional 3 of which AppleCare is the managing partner. As COO, I manage its clinical and adminis- trative aspects. Prior to that, I was a labor delivery nurse before becoming a PA. While I was a nurse, I received a certification in legal nurse consulting. I also have a risk-management background, working closely with hospital general counsel and providing risk-management training opportunities. Q : Why did you choose this area of medicine? A : I found it interesting. I wondered why it was easy for health care professionals to be sued. Look- ing through medical records, it opens your eyes to what you should be doing, what you could be doing, and what you shouldn’t be doing. I have always enjoyed teaching, so the job I have now gives me that opportunity, not just to teach, but also to develop teaching methods. I have influence in clinical, educational, and administrative areas. Q : How long have you been with AppleCare? A : I started in April 2013. Q : Did you move from urgent care into your current position? A : I started as a full-time PA. They opened a position called clinical director of risk compliance and nursing and offered me the position. Eventually, I became the director of operations, and then the COO. Every time I was promoted, I rolled the job I currently had into my new one. This has proven to be a blessing, because a non-physician who wanted to make a difference originally founded AppleCare. It was developed as a company that would be run by medical professionals, which is unique. Q : Do you think the program prepared you to become a PA and for your current career path? A : I think the program absolutely prepared me to become a PA. Honestly, while I was in PA school, and even after I graduated, I never thought I would be in the position I’m in now, because I didn’t think those kinds of opportunities existed for PAs. I chose to become a PA instead of a nurse practitioner because I wanted to enter a program taught by a group of medical profes- sionals, including physicians and PAs. I thought the collaborative relationship was important, and I wanted the support and nurturing of the physician. My mother-in-law is a cardiologist, and when I went home on the weekends, I would tell her what we learned, and she would be amazed and would say that the program was teaching a lot of “good stuff.” ALUMNI PERSPECTIVES