Nursing is a career with endless options. Just ask Wynelle Huff, RN, Ph.D., vice president of delivery of care for Adventist Health. Throughout her varied career, Huff has been a caregiver, a teacher, a consultant and now a successful executive.

“Nursing is the most amazingly rich profession you can get into,” stated Huff. “This career gives you so many different options—from direct patient care to a breadth of management roles.”

A Varied Career

Huff began her health care career in 1962 as a charge nurse at Porter Memorial Hospital in Denver, Colo., but quickly moved into academia. She first served as an instructor of psychiatric nursing at Union College and later as chair of the Department of Psychiatric Nursing and associate dean of the School of Nursing at Loma Linda University. Ultimately, her love of educating future nurses led to an 11-year stint as dean of the School of Nursing at Walla Walla College.

“While I was intrigued by being able to help people in crisis, I always wanted to be a teacher,” said Huff. “It was exciting to teach bright young people how to care for patients and hone their skills and talents.”

After 20 years in the field of nursing education, Huff hung up her academic regalia and moved to Adventist Health, where she held the position of professional services consultant before becoming a vice president in 1994. In her current role at the Roseville, Calif., office, Huff’s primary customers—as she likes to refer to them—are hospital patient care executives (PCEs). Her main responsibility is to act as their advocate with administration. She enjoys being their sounding board, cheerleader and mentor.

In addition to representing facility PCEs, Huff’s corporate responsibilities include overseeing accreditation processes, JCAHO audit programs, home care, quality, clinical operations consulting, clinical practice improvement, parish nursing and Project IntelliCare.

“I feel like I have come full circle,” said Huff, who describes her career path as one stepping-stone after another, all serving to get her where she is today. “It’s wonderful to hold a position where I’m able to combine my experience, interests and talents into one job.”

Spearheading Project IntelliCare

One of Huff’s major responsibilities is spearheading Project IntelliCare, Adventist Health’s clinical information system. Launched in 2003 at Adventist Medical Center in Portland, Ore., the new technology allows caregivers to access medical records, lab results, pharmacy information and more—all online.

“Fully realized, Project IntelliCare will be a significant resource for our nurses and other caregivers, which will help them provide better, safer care to those we serve,” said Huff.

According to Huff, it is a dream come true to be heading up a project of this magnitude. “Informatics has always been an interest of mine, and implementing a system that helps ease the stress for our employees and makes our processes more efficient and safe for our patients is a win/win situation.”

When asked to look back on her lengthy career, Huff has no regrets. “If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing. Nursing is an amazing profession with tremendous opportunities.”