I AM UAA: Brian Erdrich

B.S. Nursing '08 & M.S. Family Nurse Practitioner '11
Hometown: San Antonio, Texas
Fun Fact: Has black belt ranking in several styles of martial arts and moonlights as a self-defense instructor

UAA alum Brian Erdrich was 26 years old when he found himself in an intensive care unit (ICU) in Houston after a bad accident. ("It's a long story," he says). As fate would have it though, it was that experience of having quality care in facing his own mortality that made him realize what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

"The nurses were just super nice to me, so I decided I was going to go into health care," he says. "After recovering from the accident, I took a tour of another hospital with a friend's mom who was a nurse. She introduced me to some male nurses and after talking to them and hearing their perspectives, I decided I'd pursue nursing."

By December 1990 he had his associate's degree from San Antonio College and went right to work in critical care and obtained his Critical Care Registered Nurse (CCRN) certification the following year.

"Critical care is fast-paced and very rewarding," he says, adding that it can also be very taxing, which is why his graduate project was about secondary traumatic stress in critical care nurses.

Brian has worked in critical care for 20 years, specializing in open heart patients. "It humbles you because if you make a mistake, someone could die. On the other hand, it's exciting because you have people who come in who are so sick or injured, but you can help turn that around and see them survive."

Brian has always been one for finding the exciting side of things. Growing up in Central and South America, as well as the United States-moving every time his military intelligence officer father got a new assignment-Brian took up hobbies like martial arts, shooting and other athletics.

"My plan when I was younger was to be a Green Beret," he says. "After I started taking college classes, I got accepted to the Marine Corps platoon leader class to go in as a pilot, until I found out that I had some hearing loss in my left ear from not using ear protection when shooting. Since I couldn't enter the military as an officer which was my goal, I decided to go a different path, which was winding for a while." He took some time away from college to find his calling.

Bouncing around from motorcycle mechanic to construction to lifeguarding and supervising at a water park, Brian took a little longer to discover his passion for health care. But once he did, he was hooked.

After working as an RN in Texas, Montana and Idaho for 9 years, and knowing he always wanted to live in Alaska ("for the hiking and fly fishing"), Brian arrived in Anchorage in 1999 to follow a job opportunity with Providence. Six years later he enrolled at UAA to upgrade his associate degree to a bachelor's, quickly following up with a master's degree as well.

"I decided I really wanted to be a nurse practitioner," he says. "I'd been working in critical care for so long that I decided I really wanted to do something proactive and try and help prevent people from ending up in the ICU. I thought if I could see people more in primary care, I could maybe catch some problems before they got so sick."

Now Brian has transitioned from Providence's ICU to an independently owned health clinic in Anchorage to focus on primary care and has his sights set on a Doctor of Nursing Practice program to start in the fall. "I love teaching and yet still have so much to learn; I learn something new daily," he says. His ultimate goals: to be part owner of a small clinic and to be on faculty in UAA's nursing program. He also wants to help more men discover what a wonderful career nursing can be.

And don't worry. He's not expecting to be bored with primary care, either.

"I think it's actually more stressful here," Brian laughs. "In critical care, I had control of almost everything. Here you're seeing somebody for hypertension, you're taking their word that they're going to take the medicine you've prescribed, and they walk out the door. You have no control. And you have a much wider range of issues to deal with. In one week, I had a four-week-old patient and then a 102-year-old the next day. Family practice is hard; it can be really intimidating."

Luckily, he has a great network of support between his boss and clinic-owner Jyll Green (a UAA nursing alumna), colleague Cheryl Bays-Goodman and many other NPs throughout Anchorage who were fellow classmates or alums. He also appreciates the support of local physicians who are receptive to nurse practitioners providing primary care in the community. He loves the diversity he sees in the Anchorage population that comes through his doors for care, and he loves it when he gets to speak Spanish. For outlets from the stresses of his job, he turns to his passions of martial arts, his two Japanese mastiffs and enjoying the outdoors with his wife of six years, Casey.

"I started training in martial arts when I was in the 4th grade, just finding different schools and clubs as we moved around," he says. His highest ranking is 3rd degree in Hapkido, and it was his merging interests of martial arts and preventative health care that prompted him to pursue teaching self-defense classes in his spare time for the last seven years. "I believe being a nurse made me a better martial artist and being a martial artist made me a better nurse." He has also had the opportunity in the past to teach as an adjunct clinical professor for UAA, and remembers his time here as a student fondly.

"The nursing degree programs at UAA were so convenient in helping me advance my career in health care," Brian says. "My professors were very pro-education and really wanted to see me go on further, and I like that. And my preceptors during the M.S.N. program were wonderful mentors and are still available for collaboration."

Brian also mentions that he was really lucky to have never had to take out any student loans. Working while going to school, he stresses that more students should look into the tuition management services at UAA that allows them to set up a monthly payment plan rather than paying a full semester's tuition up front.

So his parting advice: Avoid loan debt with monthly tuition payments and wear your ear protection! He promises neither will take the excitement out of either higher education or the shooting range.