Pediatric specialist finds her calling in saving lives

Each year, the emergency room at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington draws more than 30,000 patients, including adults and children.

One of the many health care professionals to treat them is registered nurse Leslie Wilkans of Crystal Lake, who is trained in pediatric emergency care.

Now in her eighth year at Good Shepherd, Wilkans reflected on her career in nursing, and how she decided as an adult to pursue her degree.

"I always knew I wanted to be a nurse," Wilkans says. "I wanted to be in an area where I had some autonomy, and where I would feel like I was making a difference in someone's life."

Yet, she didn't pursue a nursing degree right out of high school. Instead, she went to work first as a technician in some area nursing homes before landing a job in Good Shepherd's labor and delivery unit. It was there, working with nurses on the floor, that she knew nursing was the career she wanted.

Wilkans enrolled in the nursing program at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she completed her prerequisite courses as well as her clinical rotations in the UIC hospital network.

She recalls taking the train from Crystal Lake into the city during those years, and of trying to juggle mothering her young son, while working at Good Shepherd to help pay for her degree. Wilkans even recorded her son's early reading books on tape, so he could listen to those while she studied.

"My last clinical rotation was in the ER, and that was it. I was hooked," Wilkans says. "It offered me the autonomy I was looking for, but also it used my critical thinking skills, in doing assessments and even in some cases, starting treatment before the physicians arrived.

"And then I liked the pace," she adds. "Always having to be prepared to switch gears to care for the critically ill or injured patients that could arrive needing lifesaving care at any moment."

Wilkans recently earned her certification in pediatric emergency care, and now coordinates the hospital's state designation of Emergency Department Approved for Pediatrics.

She works in the office one day a week, monitoring its staffing, treatment protocols for children, and quality control, while also implementing some new initiatives in the department specifically geared for pediatrics.

One of the first projects she designed was the pediatric coping cart, filled with toys, stuffed animals and other distractions for children facing potentially painful procedures in the ER.

"That's what I like about the field of nursing," Wilkans says. "There's the still the bedside nursing aspect of it, but there's so many other things you can do with your degree."