Passion Meets Purpose: Jordan Hogan

Nation­al APP Week: Jor­dan Hogan

Meet Jor­dan Hogan, MSN, APRN, FNP‑C, a ded­i­cat­ed nurse prac­ti­tion­er at QMG’s Inter­ven­tion­al Spine and Joint Well­ness depart­ment. With a pas­sion for help­ing patients and a deep under­stand­ing of mus­cu­loskele­tal health, Jor­dan has been pro­vid­ing com­pas­sion­ate care since join­ing our team in 2013. In this Q&A, she shares her insights on what inspired her career path, the rewards of her role, and the advice she offers to aspir­ing nurse practitioners.

What inspired you to become a nurse practitioner?

Becom­ing a Nurse Prac­ti­tion­er (NP) was inspired by my pas­sion for help­ing oth­ers and my desire to make a tan­gi­ble impact on patients’ lives. From ear­ly on, I was drawn to the med­ical field, fas­ci­nat­ed by the blend of sci­ence, com­pas­sion, and human con­nec­tion that health­care embod­ies. As I gained expe­ri­ence, I real­ized that being an NP would allow me to com­bine my clin­i­cal skills with the abil­i­ty to build mean­ing­ful, long-term rela­tion­ships with my patients. The auton­o­my to diag­nose, treat, and edu­cate patients, along with the oppor­tu­ni­ty to advo­cate for their well-being, tru­ly res­onat­ed with me. I want­ed to be on the front lines of pro­vid­ing holis­tic care, and becom­ing an NP has allowed me to ful­fill that call­ing, offer­ing the chance to make a dif­fer­ence in my com­mu­ni­ty every day.

What do you find most reward­ing about your role as a nurse practitioner?

What I find most reward­ing about my role as a Nurse Prac­ti­tion­er is the oppor­tu­ni­ty to make a mean­ing­ful dif­fer­ence in my patients’ lives every day. I love being able to pro­vide not just med­ical care, but also sup­port, edu­ca­tion, and reas­sur­ance to patients and their fam­i­lies. Build­ing last­ing rela­tion­ships and being a trust­ed part of some­one’s health­care jour­ney is incred­i­bly ful­fill­ing. I val­ue the abil­i­ty to lis­ten to my patients’ sto­ries, under­stand their unique needs, and col­lab­o­rate with them on a per­son­al­ized plan for their health. Know­ing that I can play a key role in improv­ing some­one’s qual­i­ty of life, whether through pre­ven­tive care, chron­ic dis­ease man­age­ment, or sim­ply being there in a moment of need, is what dri­ves me and makes my work as an NP so rewarding.

What is your spe­cial­ty area, and what drew you to it?

My spe­cial­ty area is spine and joint pain man­age­ment, which com­bines my inter­ests in help­ing patients improve their qual­i­ty of life and my fas­ci­na­tion with the com­plex­i­ties of mus­cu­loskele­tal health. I was drawn to this spe­cial­ty because of the pro­found impact that effec­tive pain man­age­ment can have on a per­son­’s dai­ly life. Chron­ic pain, espe­cial­ly relat­ed to the spine and joints, can be incred­i­bly debil­i­tat­ing, affect­ing not just phys­i­cal well-being but also emo­tion­al and men­tal health.

What attract­ed me most to this field was the oppor­tu­ni­ty to work close­ly with patients to devel­op indi­vid­u­al­ized treat­ment plans that address their spe­cif­ic needs and goals. I love the chal­lenge of diag­nos­ing com­plex pain con­di­tions and explor­ing a range of treat­ment options, from min­i­mal­ly inva­sive pro­ce­dures to lifestyle mod­i­fi­ca­tions and reha­bil­i­ta­tive strate­gies. The abil­i­ty to help patients regain mobil­i­ty, reduce pain, and return to their favorite activ­i­ties is incred­i­bly reward­ing. It’s ful­fill­ing to see patients progress and achieve relief and know­ing that I can play a key role in improv­ing their over­all qual­i­ty of life is what keeps me pas­sion­ate about spine and joint pain management.

What advice would you give to some­one con­sid­er­ing a career as a nurse practitioner?

For any­one con­sid­er­ing a career in spine and joint pain man­age­ment as a Nurse Prac­ti­tion­er, my advice is to cul­ti­vate a strong foun­da­tion in both clin­i­cal skills and com­pas­sion­ate patient care. This spe­cial­ty requires a blend of med­ical exper­tise, prob­lem-solv­ing abil­i­ties, and a deep com­mit­ment to patient-cen­tered care. It’s also impor­tant to devel­op excel­lent com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills, as much of this role involves edu­cat­ing patients, man­ag­ing expec­ta­tions, and build­ing trust. Empa­thy and patience are key, as you’ll often work with indi­vid­u­als who are deal­ing with chron­ic pain and the frus­tra­tions that come with it.

Last­ly, stay curi­ous and com­mit­ted to life­long learn­ing. Advances in pain man­age­ment are con­stant­ly evolv­ing, and keep­ing up with the lat­est research and treat­ment modal­i­ties will ensure that you pro­vide the best pos­si­ble care for your patients. This field is incred­i­bly reward­ing, and the abil­i­ty to make a pos­i­tive impact on your patients’ lives makes all the hard work worthwhile.