Page 25 - Johns Hopkins Nursing Magazine Spring 2023 - Johns Hopkins School of Nursing

WE ARE ALL EAST BALTIMORE developing uncontrolled postoperative pain and negative Doing so will mean addressing not only the stigmas NEWS FROM JOHNS HOPKINS NURSING

health outcomes associated with it.”
carried by patients but those harbored by caregivers
who could benefit from further education on pain and
She has come to understand the stigma that addiction
pain management themselves. The rest may come down
carries in America and the disparities faced by pain
to empathy, getting to know patients, and recognizing
sufferers based on social determinants, having navigated
that everyone feels pain differently. Though “we have
enough cultural challenges as an English-as-a-second-
language immigrant. (Lee’s given name is Yoon-Jae, but
never experienced the acute levels faced by patients
after orthopedic surgery or serious injury.
for ease in her adopted country she goes by her Catholic all lived with pain,” Lee explains that nurses often have
first name. And she has clearly mastered English, despite
pre-interview apologies for any mispronunciations.) In her case it isn’t for lack of trying. A fearless adventurer
and world traveler, Lee cites Australia as a favorite spot
“That experience of coming to the U.S. has really for its weather, jet skiing, and yes, skydiving. She has
broadened my perspective,” Lee explains, pointing no plans to stop seeking adventure, especially jet skiing,
proudly toward the final stanza of the 1915 Robert Frost which she’s found is just as pleasurable here in Maryland.
poem The Road Not Taken:
Lee has also thrown herself into community engagement
I shall be telling this with a sigh through Johns Hopkins’ natural ties to its surrounding
neighborhoods, through the COMPASS Center, as a
Somewhere ages and ages hence: community fellow, and as a volunteer (providing drive-
up free flu vaccinations for the community, for instance).
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— If she’s missed any opportunities, again, it hasn’t been
for lack of trying. “For me, the studying is not the only
I took the one less traveled by, reason for being a Johns Hopkins student.” 23

And that has made all the difference. And she’s determined to keep going out and doing
things as a nurse leader.
“It was not an easy decision for me to live in a completely
different country and culture. And of course the “When I look back at my past three years, I can tell you
language. I think the fact that I took ‘the one less how much I have grown up as a nurse: as a clinician, as a
traveled by,’ that has really made all the differences in scholar, and as a future leader,” she says.
my life.”
Look out below. ◼
As for goals as she looks to graduation in Spring 2023
and beyond: “I aspire to be part of the next generation
of nursing leaders, clinicians, and researchers working
not only toward advancing pain management but also
addressing disparities in pain as well.”

“I think the fact that I took ‘the one less

traveled by,’ that has really made all the

differences in my life.” MAGAZINE.NURSING.JHU.EDU