Dana Lautenschleger’s career in healthcare can probably be traced to her two hip surgeries as a child. “The nurse practitioner that I worked with inspired me, just by the way she helped me and the relationship that she was forming with all of her patients,” says Dana, who is Assistant Nurse Manager in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Hillcrest Hospital. Dana ended up shadowing the nurse practitioner during her senior year project in high school, and her career path was set. 

Finding her home 

As a nursing student at the University of Mount Union, Dana took part in Cleveland Clinic’s Nurse Associate Extern (NAE) 10-week summer program. Internal caregivers and external nursing students in the NAE program work one-on-one with a nurse mentor and spend time with fellow externs in a classroom setting. At the end of 10 weeks, the student is offered a position as a Clinical Technician or Patient Care Nursing Assistant (PCNA) in their last year of nursing school.  

“I worked as a Clinical Technician for a year after the externship, and I fell in love with the ICU pretty much right away,” Dana says. “The adrenaline and that fast-paced environment are what drew me into critical care.” From there, Dana was hired as an RN in the Hillcrest ICU after graduating from nursing school in 2018. 

Moving on up 

A lifelong learner, Dana exhibited leader behaviors and began exploring more advanced roles at Cleveland Clinic. “Working for a couple years in the ICU, I started getting a little bit eager,” she says. “So I thought, what’s next?”

What was next was graduate school to pursue her nurse practitioner degree. “Cleveland Clinic’s been extremely helpful in terms of tuition reimbursement, which I utilized throughout my graduate program,” Dana says. Shortly after she started graduate school, the assistant nurse manager role in the Hillcrest ICU opened up.  

After receiving her nurse practitioner degree this past February, Dana has accepted a position as an Intensive Care and Resuscitation House Officer. Starting in August, she will be rotating throughout the Cleveland Clinic enterprise.  

Helping hands 

Dana credits her managers for helping her along her career path at Cleveland Clinic, right from the start. “I’ve met a lot of people that I feel have had an influence on my career choices, but my initial manager, Samantha Connelly, was one I formed a strong relationship with,” Dana says.  

“My current manager, Natalie Betker, has a strong passion for leadership. She’s helped me grow a lot as an assistant nurse manager. The other assistant nurse manager that I’ve worked with, Lillian Roscoe, has been there for 17 years and taught me so much, too.” 

A strong team 

Of her Hillcrest ICU colleagues, Dana says, “We have a very resilient team, just overcoming COVID and everything that we went through during that time. We’re a very team-oriented unit. We’re very supportive of each other.” 

“It’s just a very positive learning environment. The doctors do ‘Teaching Tuesdays,’ where they take a topic that’s suggested by the nurses, and they’ll teach us about that. The new grads really enjoy that because they get the chance to interact with the doctors or ask questions. And overall, it makes for a better team.” 

Advice to new grad nurses 

Dana has two words for new grad nurses to encourage them to consider a career at Cleveland Clinic: opportunities and resources. 

“Cleveland Clinic offers a lot of opportunities for whatever you’re looking to go into,” she says. “So, if you’re struggling with deciding what area of specialty to go into, there’s somebody that can definitely help you try to figure that out. There are a ton of resources. There are people there that can always help you be successful. Reach out to people here and make connections.”