Olivia de Bear, PA-C, has been working in gynecologic oncology for three years. She currently works in the inpatient setting at the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at Michigan Medicine. She previously worked in outpatient family medicine. Olivia lives in Ypsilanti, Michigan, which borders Ann Arbor, Michigan. She is married to a pediatric occupational therapist and has two Boston terrier dogs.
SGO invited Olivia to share more of her perspective on being an Advanced Practice Provider (APP) in the gyn onc setting in the following Q&A.
What is your practice setting and typical patient population?
Throughout my three years at Michigan Medicine, I have been working in the inpatient setting. The typical patient population is post-operative patients and those with complications from their malignancy such as small bowel obstructions or side effects to systemic therapy. Occasionally, we house cesarean hysterectomy patients on our service since our gynecologic oncologists assist in many of those cases.
How many patients do you see on an average day?
Our service typically has anywhere from 3-7 patients at a time.
When did you get involved with SGO and how did you become aware of the organization?
I became involved in SGO about one year ago. I became aware of this organization when I found that I was reaching a ceiling in my current role and wanted to expand into a leadership position. I have always enjoyed promoting the physician assistant career to prospective PA and current PA students. A current gyn onc fellow at our institution brought awareness to the various committees within SGO.
What value do you get from being an SGO member/involved with SGO?
I have enjoyed creating connections and friendships with other gynecologic oncology advanced practice providers. It was welcoming to see familiar faces at our Allied Health Professionals Meeting this past October in Chicago. I also enjoy the projects that the committee works on to further educate our fellow APPs and even physicians about the role we serve in the field of gynecologic oncology.
What is one (or more) thing that you learned at the most recent Allied Meeting that you were excited to bring back/implement in your own practice?
At the 2022 Allied Health Professionals Meeting, I was most excited to share the patient-centered tools I could bring back to my team such as patients carrying an immune checkpoint inhibitor wallet card, tips for treating vulvar “radiation rash”, and intravenous cancer treatment education handouts. I personally enjoyed the hands-on workshop learning and practicing wound vac placements on patient models.
What do you do to unwind or decompress after a long day of work?
My favorite way to decompress after a long day of work is a long, long walk with my two dogs. I find walking in nature on a dirt trail to be very meditative and therapeutic. It gives me the chance to focus on the task at hand instead of the many tasks waiting at home or waiting the next day at work. (The dogs seem to enjoy this too!).
What are some of your hobbies?
My most time-consuming hobby is training for running races, particularly half marathons. Within the running community, I recently directed and managed my first 5K race aimed for post-collegiate women. I also enjoy studying and caring for houseplants and arts & crafts such as crocheting and sewing.
Where is the top place you want to travel to?
This is a great question since I am currently debating my next big vacation with my sister! Last year, my sister and I road-tripped nine days and visited all the national parks of Utah. It was quite the experience to “live life on the road”. The scenery was jaw-dropping; it felt like we were on Mars. This year we are debating visiting national parks in California or Washington State.