Class of 1963: UMSN Alumna Reflects on 50 Years of Nursing as Milestone Reunion Nears
“Every job I’ve had has been my favorite,” says Anne Quinn, when looking back at her 50-year career that remains active. “To be a nurse is both an honor and a privilege.”
Anne (Van Steenquist) Quinn, a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Nursing’s (UMSN) Class of 1963, is back in the classroom teaching future health care professionals. She works as a Standardized Patient Instructor for U-M Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmacy.
“Communication is so important in the health care professions," says Quinn. "It’s important 
to use the communications skills of paraphrasing, praising, empathizing, as well as open and direct questioning, and then to summarize what was said. Just as patients have different needs and ways of understanding, the students do also. It’s a challenge to figure out how to best explain and emphasize communication skills so that the student might understand and see the importance of them.”
While Quinn’s teaching focuses on the provider-patient role, she believes communication is equally important within the health care team. “You have limited time, so communicating to your patient, your fellow nurses, the doctors, either by voice or computer records, it’s essential to provide the best patient care,” she says. “It’s a real skill.”
Quinn used her communication skills for 20 years working at U-M Health System as a Discharge Planner. “We had people coming from all over the United States and we had to make sure they had everything they needed before discharging them. It was so important that you felt it was a safe discharge for patients. At times we had to keep patients after the insurance ran out because there was not enough support at home. Then we had to figure out Plan B.”
Quinn says she worried about the safety of the one-day discharge after child birth policy. “A safe discharge is what I always worried about; could the mother get out of the house if there was a fire? Was someone there to help them?” Quinn says those are the times when a nurse really has to advocate for the patient. “If it wasn’t a safe discharge, you had to tell the doctor, ‘I don’t care about the insurance, this isn’t safe.’ That meant the hospital had to come up with the money and sometimes you had to get creative. They could override me, but I don’t ever remember that happening.” Quinn also developed a plan to send a Visiting Nurse to the homes for follow-up care.
U-M and Ann Arbor have always had a special place in the hearts of Anne and her husband, Jim. He graduated from U-M Medical School the same year Anne graduated from UMSN. To celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary in 1973, Anne commissioned popular Ann Arbor artist Milton N. Kemnitz to paint the U-M health campus. Recently, the Quinns decided they will donate the painting to UMSN to be displayed in the new academic facility, scheduled to open in 2015.
Anne, still a regular visitor to campus 
because of her work, will have a special reason to return during the 2013 Homecoming Reunion Weekend, October 4 – 5. The celebration includes special events for the Class of 1963. “I don’t feel that old,” laughed Quinn. “I think it’s because I’m working with the students and being with younger people keeps me feeling good. It just doesn’t seem 50 years is possible but I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone and hearing their stories, especially what they did in nursing.”
“Nurses are able to help people and their families in many ways. I feel that we are put on this earth to assist and encourage one another. Nursing is one way to accomplish this.”
