“I am Lt. Kaitlyn Harmon, Navy Nurse Corps officer, assigned to Naval Hospital Bremerton (NHB).”
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Growing up, Harmon said she showed an interest in medicine and the military, because it ran in the family.
“I was working as a lifeguard in high school and was interested in medicine,” said Harmon. “My family is split; three Army, three Navy and one Air Force, so the military was always present growing up.”
Harmon is serving as the department head of the medical surgical unit at NHB, but she has been taken multiple places because of Navy medicine.
“I have been to Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD), Naval Hospital 29 Palms (Calif.), and NHB,” said Harmon. “I was a staff charge nurse in San Diego and now a staff nurse here at Bremerton before taking on department head.”
When asked what was the most exciting assignment Harmon has had in the Navy she described two experiences; one while she was a commissioned officer and the other prior to completing her training.
“As an officer I liked working the medical surgical unit at Balboa (NMCSD),” said Harmon. “I was able to treat our veterans from WWII and the new active duty such as the Marine Corps Recruit Depot recruits and Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL candidates. It was exciting to see both aspects of it. As a midshipman I was sent for my summer training to the Middle East. I was flown out to the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) on her last deployment in the Persian Gulf.”
Every year, the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses celebrates people in that specialty group like Harmon by recognizing Nov. 1-7 as Medical-Surgical Nurse Week.
When asked how being a Navy Nurse Corps officer relates to the week-long celebration, Harmon said “as a medical-surgical nurse you provide medications and education, coordinate care, and track a patient’s process and progress. As a Navy Nurse, the medical-surgical nurse is a jack-of-all-trades. Here at Naval Hospital Bremerton we take care of a wide variety of patients. We also support other units.”
Harmon said another big impact medical surgical nurses have is their role in supporting the Navy surgeon general’s priority on operational readiness.
“Medical-surgical nurses are trained in the basics of nursing care,” she said. “As leadership, we are trying to enforce the basics here at Naval Hospital Bremerton and get our nurses the skills that they would need if required to be a nurse in an operational setting.”
Looking towards the future, Harmon hopes to strengthen readiness even further with joint efforts and utilizing local resources.
“We are hoping to set up a program with Madigan Army Medical Center to continue readiness and we send new nurses to Harrison Medical Center to ensure that they are able to learn the basics of nursing.”
Through her Navy Medicine career Harmon said she has a lot to be thankful for but there is one thing she won’t take for granted.
“The people,” she said. “I was given the opportunity to move across the country and work as a nurse and the nurses, doctors, corpsman, and civilians I have worked with have always become family.”
Asked to sum up her experience with Navy Medicine in one sentence, Harmon replied, “the Navy provided me with an education, nursing skills, friendships and opportunities I could not provide myself otherwise. I am thankful for the opportunities and for the life lessons as well.”