As a nurse with 30 years of experience whose career has run the gamut from staff nurse to administrator to faculty member, Patrick Hickey, RN, CNOR, MSN, DrPH, is no stranger to taking risks. Alongside the challenges he's surmounted in nursing, Hickey has also scaled other heights, including Mount McKinley. While nursing is his passion, he also has a calling for the outdoors.

"In addition to my professional life, I also have a very active personal life," says Hickey. "In 1984, my wife Carol and I backpacked around Europe for 6 months and enjoyed the freedom of travel; the excitement of discovering new places; and the challenges associated with foreign currency, language, and local customs. Four years later, we backpacked around the entire world for a whole year and had the time of our lives.

"In 1993, we took off again and backpacked for another year, this time through all of Latin America. Again, the experiences were monumental and actually triggered quite a lot of changes in my life, including focusing my doctoral dissertation on the barriers of access to medical care for Hispanics.

"It was also on this trip that I had an introduction to what I would later call my A"midlife crisis,' the summit of a 20,000 foot mountain in Ecuador. This summit, which I scaled on a whim, led me to explore the challenges of mountaineering and the path that I now take as I'm attempting to be the first nurse ever to climb the seven summits of the world. The seven summits are the seven highest points on the seven continents of the world, and are essentially the "holy grail" of mountaineering. At this point, only a little more than a hundred people in the entire world have accomplished this task, and I hope to join that elite group by Spring 2007." (See "Climbing the seven summits.")

As exciting as mountain climbing has been, nursing has been a part of Hickey's life for 3 decades.

"This summer marked 30 years since I graduated with a diploma in nursing from St. Lawrence College in Brockville, Ontario," he says. "Since then I've practiced in many roles, as well as practice settings, and feel strongly that the diversity of those experiences has developed me both professionally and personally. As a staff nurse who grew into a managerial role, I was able to gain experience in the areas of medical-surgical, emergency care, coronary care, and surgery. In an administrative role, I gained both regulatory and quality control experience as a director of quality, which eventually led to the role of risk manager in a 650-bed hospital."

Hickey transitioned from the clinical setting to academia last year, when he joined the faculty at University of South Carolina College of Nursing, Columbia, S.C. His first year as a faculty member was spent teaching cultural nursing and community health.

Hickey recently answered Men in Nursing's Fast Five.

1. What influences do you credit with helping you achieve your professional goals in nursing?

Most importantly, I couldn't have achieved half of what I have without the unfailing, steadfast support of my wife. No doubt there have been mentors and individuals that have influenced and guided me throughout the past 30 years, but if it weren't for my wife's support, I don't believe I would've been able to address the challenges I faced on a daily basis. Additionally, managers and directors at various levels were very instrumental in fostering opportunities for career advancement through the addition of further job responsibilities; some requested, and others not.

As I look back, it seems there was a parallel path between the acquisition of higher education and the practice of more advanced nursing roles. The skill sets and knowledge I acquired through higher education prepared me for tasks in the hospital setting, as most times it seemed my advanced clinical role as a nurse was an extension of the didactic courses I took in school.

"As a new member of the faculty, I find it rewarding to be in a position to greatly influence the direction of student nurses."

2. Of the things your position enables you to accomplish, which are the most rewarding to you?

As a new member of the faculty, I find it rewarding to be in a position to greatly influence the future direction of student nurses. I'm hopeful that lessons learned from 30 years of nursing, as well as a passion to encourage and support our future nurses in the delivery of safe, quality nursing care, will help generate a new cadre of nurses who'll "think outside the box" by using common sense approaches to problem solving. I like to bring life experiences into my lectures, drawing parallels between life outside of the hospital and how it affects our patient care in healthcare. I strongly encourage my students to become more involved in the local community, showing them that through participation in voluntary organizations, they're able to acquire skills and experiences that'll help them in the hospital setting.

3. Based on your professional experience, what words of wisdom would you offer other men in nursing who are attempting to chart their career course?

I'd encourage other men to make sure they have a good, solid foundation of support within their family setting, as well as their clinical setting. There may be further challenges if one of these two isn't supportive. If neither will render support, it may be very problematic. It's crucial that communication between both groups is clear, as the challenges of career advancement can greatly change roles and responsibilities not only at work, but in the home setting.

4. What career strategies did you use to attain your current role?

It was the culmination of quite a variety of career strategies that ended up positioning me for my present role as a faculty member in a college of nursing. A managerial role in the perioperative environment led to my first role as an educator, one I enjoyed immensely.

To complement my teaching skills, I obtained a Master of Science with a specialty focus on health education, which led to an opportunity as an adjunct faculty member in healthcare related fields at both a technical college and the university setting. A newly discovered passion for teaching led me to return to graduate school to obtain a doctorate in public health. All of these strategies, as well as many life influences along the way, helped guide me to my present role.

5. How has your gender impacted your ability to reach your goals within the profession?

For years I felt I had an unfair advantage as a man in nursing, because sometimes it seemed I received more respect than my female counterparts from the nursing profession as a whole. Whether that was right or not, I've always championed the cause of my female colleagues and have used whatever resources available to push forward a unified nursing agenda.

In my role as a student in the scholastic setting, I think there was a more even playing field, where it didn't seem that gender was taken into consideration. I can't say for certain whether gender makes a difference when being considered for a new role in a clinical setting, but I'd hope that experience and skills would be the utmost factors in the decision making process.

Hickey is attempting to be the first nurse ever to climb the seven summits of the world.

Climbing the seven summits

Hickey's climbs of the seven summits to date are as follows:

2001 - Mt. Aconcagua, Argentina

2002 - Mt. Kiliminjaro, Tanzania, Africa

2003 -Mt. McKinley, Alaska, USA

2004 - Mt. Elbrus, Russia

2005 -Mt. Carstensz Pyramid, Indonesia

2006 - Mt. Vinson, Antarctica (December)

2007 - Mt. Everest, Nepal (March)

"The last two climbs are extremely expensive and I'm hoping for financial support from individuals, industry, or nursing groups," he says. "I'm climbing with the platform that 30 years of nursing has given me the skill sets (communication, leadership, teamwork, problem solving, and initiative) that will enable me to meet this challenge. I'm also hoping to increase the awareness of the dire shortage of nurses in the work setting, faculty in academia, and more importantly, the lack of males in our profession.

"My motto has always been, a"If I can do it, you can do it too.' Though I'm not encouraging all nurses to climb Mt. Everest, as I truly know that each one of us has to summit our own Everest in the work and home settings. I'm hoping to send the message that if you're passionate about something, do it, and do it well."