Clinical Instructor Paola German

When the Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing Doctor of Nursing Practice program was inaugurated in 2019, German was in the first cohort. A scholarship recipient, she graduated as a family nurse practitioner in 2022 and returned to the school in her current role. 

German’s research examines the intersection of vaccination efforts, education and healthcare access, with a specific focus on how these factors contribute to achieving health equity in underserved communities—
communities who, historically, have not been listened to when it comes to their health needs. 

When she’s not in the classroom, she works as a family nurse practitioner at UCI’s Student Health Center, where she co-leads a project to promote education about HPV vaccines. She is emphatic about the importance of using the power of education to mitigate health crises. 

“If we can prevent future cancer, illness, diseases that are preventable, why not?” German argues. “Educating people is empowering them in their own health.” 

German’s approach was strongly influenced by the experience of working as a trauma and emergency nurse at the front lines of UCI Medical Center at the height of the Covid pandemic, witnessing first-hand the importance of vaccination education. Her DNP project, published in the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, introduces a strategy to increase the willingness of patients to receive influenza vaccines in the emergency department. 

“I saw there was a big gap, especially for vulnerable populations who use the emergency department, sometimes, because they have no other means to get care,” German explains. “Taking the opportunity to educate patients whenever they come for care is important. Without access to routine care, many are unaware of the importance of vaccinations.” 

German says that she doesn’t see patients; she sees people. She believes that listening to people, especially from underserved communities, is a vital factor in creating more equitable access to healthcare. She tries to place herself in other people’s shoes, often imagining the kind of care she’d like to see her mother receive if she were the patient. And she acknowledges that in both her roles—as an educator and a healthcare provider—she has the privilege of impacting lives. 

“I tell my students, we’re in that unique position to shape that patient’s experience,” she says. “You can be a very skilled nurse… But how do you do it? Do you talk to your patient? Do you explain the procedure to your patient before you do it? Do you listen for their personal beliefs or cultural preferences?” 

Though they’re an important part of the job, German says technical skills and knowledge are not the only attributes that make a good nurse. In keeping with the values of the Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing, she sees caring and compassion at the heart of what nursing means. 

For such a dedicated nurse, German’s journey to the profession was anything but conventional. After high school, she left Peru to study medicine in Moscow, on a Russian program aimed at students from developing countries. As well as an opportunity for her to learn, she saw it as her chance to see the world. 

German became fluent in Russian. Rooming with other international students, she was surrounded by many new and different points of view, deepening her belief that being open to the experiences of others is essential in healthcare. 

To pay for books, she spent her summers working in Spain, until a friend returning from the United States suggested that she would be better off pursuing her dreams there. She moved to the U.S. halfway through her medical degree and joined the U.S. Army as an operating room technician. It was this experience that truly convinced her to pursue a life of service. On completing her training, she enrolled for an associate degree in nursing while working simultaneously as an instrument technician at Hoag Hospital in Orange County, California. 

“Being new to the system and the country in so many ways, everything was unfamiliar to me. I was so impressed and inspired by what I experienced in the military and at work,” she recalls. “I developed a really good relationship with the charge nurse, and I saw how effective, how caring and how supportive she was, not only with me, but also patients… that gave me a very interesting, different perspective on a person who didn’t just provide care, but did it really caringly.”

German had grown up in a family that valued care for others. She remembers her mother and grandmother taking food, clothes, diapers, anything in their means, to help patients in need of assistance at the local hospital’s maternity unit. Her admiration for the charge nurse at Hoag resonated with those values.

Keen to continue her education, German became a registered nurse through a program at Azusa Pacific University and gained firsthand experience as an ER Technician at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange. Finally, she made the move to UC Irvine Medical Center’s emergency department to work as as a trauma nurse, which led eventually to her DNP and current role as a clinical instructor.

However, German sees herself as an educator in every role she has had. She wants her students to know that regardless of what path they take in nursing, they have the opportunity to make an impact. 

“As nurses, there are infinite ways we can make a difference beyond traditional bedside care. Some of my students may want to become researchers or teachers or work in completely different settings, in policy, leadership, community outreach or innovation. Their passion combined with a clear purpose can take them down so many paths,” she says.

“Nurses have, sometimes, people’s lives in our hands,” German continues, “and that is a profound privilege. So we are responsible for not only direct care, but for educating our patients, advocating for them, and making sure they go through whatever they’re going through with dignity, and respect.” 

She says that growing up in Peru with nearly a dozen siblings and cousins under the same roof was like living in a small community in one house. They were raised to help each other, no matter what, and as a result, she feels a sense of responsibility for others is ingrained in her. 

As a nurse, that responsibility means that caring for someone goes further than helping them regain their physical health. To care for someone, for German, is to care for the community we all share. She has traveled a long way to find herself, in a profound sense, right back at home.

Paola German spoke with Dhanika Pineda, a Washington DC-based journalist who covers healthcare, race, culture and politics for national print, digital and broadcast media. Pineda contributes regularly to Humanitas.