Exclusive Interview: Karon Gibson, Pioneer of Independent Nursing Practice

Being Fired Can Be Good For You...

Getting fired from a hospital was the best thing that ever happened to Karon Gibson, RN, now a TV show host, author, and successful entrepreneur.

Up until the termination, Gibson had been an emergency room and psychiatric nurse. Then, she explains, she and a partner started an independent nursing practice in their off-duty time. Despite being given explicit permission to do so by the director of the hospital, the practice led to Gibson and her partner being terminated for "outside interests."

In fact, Gibson and her partner fought the hospital establishment as well as society's misconceptions about the role of nurses in health care in order to create the first independent nursing practice in the US, and they succeeded in becoming the first nurses to ever be called Nurse Practitioners.

During the legal battle that followed, Gibson worried about not being able to secure another hospital job without references. So she ventured into a rather more unusual health care setting: the world's first indoor amusement park.

Old Chicago, now defunct, was a combination shopping mall and indoor amusement park. It featured a roller coaster, Ferris wheel, and water rides, as well as dozens of boutiques in the turn-of-the-century themed mall. "I was put in charge of the first aid station there," Gibson says. "I was there for 5 years, and ran the amusement park safety department, the first aid station, and the lost child department." It was on a level with caring for the population of a city, she says, because there were often 50 thousand people in Old Chicago at one time.

From ER Nurse To The Movie Set...

Soon after Old Chicago opened in 1978, director Brian De Palma chose the park as a location for his thriller The Fury. Not wanting to import a nurse practitioner from California, the producers turned to Gibson for first aid management. "I had to learn all the different things that go on in a movie set," Gibson says. "You know, like they take oxygen for hangovers and things, they lose their voices because of the weather change between California and Chicago, the women have menstrual cramps...and you're taking care of a whole crew of people, not just the stars."

After The Fury, other producers wanted to tap into the specialized skills of Gibson and her partner. They even had to train a crew of nurses, she says, to handle multiple movies and sets at a time. They ran the first aid stations for A Conspiracy of Love, Doctor Detroit, and Risky Business, among other Chicago-based TV shows and major motion pictures.

To Successful Author...

Although running first aid for production sets gave Gibson a connection with show business, her path to producing media of her own had its origin in nursing school. "I went to a school in a very low income neighborhood," Gibson says. "There were a lot of things going on--the riots were going on, they were bringing in women in snowstorms in helicopters and things like that, and I thought, Geez, this would make a good story! So I used to take notes in nursing school, and I always knew I'd write a book."

In late 2000, the book was published: Nurses On Our Own , written collaboratively by Karon Gibson, her partner Joy Smith Catterson, and freelance writer Patricia Skalka.

"When we went on a publicity tour for the book is when I really got the interest sparked," says Gibson, "because most of the people who interviewed us knew nothing about what they asked us! So I thought, this was kind of fun. And then one of the companies that I was vice president of said, will you do a voiceover for a still shot commercial?"

To Television Host...

One thing led to another, and before she knew it Gibson was doing a regular 15 minute spot on Multimedia Cable called Healthbreak. "Then I said, well, give me a half hour so I can have guests, I dont want to keep doing this alone all the time, who wants to look at me?" jokes Gibson. "And they said, well, nobody's complaining! But that's how that started."

Today, Gibson runs AmericaNurse, which produces current educational and entertaining TV programs with outspoken experts and consumers. Her TV show, Outspoken with Karon, can be seen in Chicago, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, and Marina Del Rey. She has been featured in People Magazine and various TV talk shows, recognized as Businesswoman of the Year by the Chicago National Association of Women Business Owners, and received the Community Service Award from NurseWeek Magazine. She also helped pioneered the development of home care in 1973, as President of a home health care agency and private duty nursing service.

"I have had a really diversified career, a lot of different opportunities," Gibson reflects, "and that's why I say when we got terminated from the hospital it was the best thing that ever happened in my life. It was a devastating thing at the time because we had done nothing wrong at all, but I would still be there in charge of the psych unit."

Gibson encourages nurse practitioners and entrepreneurs to believe in their capabilities. "The main thing is not to be afraid to do everything you've learned to do. They taught us everything where I went to school, we even took courses with the medical students, but they kind of instilled a fear in us not to go overboard or to take absolute responsibility for things."

As Gibson's career progressed, she says, she more or less had no choice but to take on that responsibility. "I had to be talked into it and encouraged, to even do the things that I knew how to do, because it was outside of a hospital setting. It's a little scary at first."

Gibson didn't let fear hold her back. Neither should other nurses, she says. "They should have the confidence to do everything they know how to do."

Learn more about Karon Gibson and AmericaNurse at Americantvproductions.com or AmericaNurse.com.

Explore The Many Career Options A Nursing Degree Offers...

Explore Nursing Degree Programs
Explore accredited online Nursing degree programs and request additional information about requirements, tuition, financial aid, and start dates directly from nursing schools offering programs that match your interests:
Explore Online Nursing Programs
Explore Nursing Schools By State
Explore Nurse Practitioner Programs

Related Articles:

Why Earn a Nursing Degree Online?
Nurse Practitioner Career Information : Become A Nurse Practitioner Online
Why Become A Nurse Practitioner?
Family Practice Docs Upset That Some Nurses Earn More
How to Become a Nursing Superstar: The Highest Paying Nursing Jobs and Their Educational Requirements

Find More Articles About: Online Education, Financial Aid, Nursing Careers, Allied Health Careers, Healthcare Management Careers