Stephanie M. Hess MSN, RN, CRN | Duke Health Nursing

Stephanie has been a Registered Nurse for seven years; she joined Duke in 2016. One way she has made an impact is by updating a list of the medications that should be discontinued prior to a procedure. The list had hundreds of medications, many of which could not be stopped abruptly, but required tapering. She collaborated with physicians, the pharmacy team and nurses across the health system to narrow down the list, per current evidence. The new pre-procedure medication list promotes patient safety by allowing patients to continue taking many long-term medications, instead of discontinuing them for a one-day procedure.