Because I have been the nurse sobbing alone
I have held dying children in the dark, with no one checking on me. This work is personal. Every piece of it.
Home / About
Experience shapes perspective. Perspective shapes better decisions.
I am a nurse, a consultant, and someone who has lived the storms of healthcare firsthand. I began my nursing journey over two and a half decades ago and I have never stopped fighting for the people on the front lines.
- BSN, RN
- 25+ years in healthcare
- Just Culture Certified Trainer
- Published author
- ICF Scholar 2026
The path
Twenty-five years, four vantage points, one question.
Every role gave me a different view of the same system. Put together, they are the reason I can tell a healthcare technology company what will actually happen when their product meets a real unit on a bad night.
2003
The bedside
Started as a registered nurse. Eight-plus years in highly acute units, learning what care costs the person giving it.
Fourteen years
Adult medical telemetry & ICU management
Running units, holding the pager, building the schedule, absorbing the incidents. Leadership as it is actually practiced, not as it is described in a deck.
Behavioral health
Inpatient pediatric psychiatry leadership
Leading a unit where safety, trauma, and human dignity are the daily work — for the patients and for the staff.
Most recently
Vice President, Enterprise Accounts & Clinical Experience
At a leading healthcare AI company. Enterprise deals, product feedback, implementation reality, and the translation problem between engineering and the floor.
Now
Founder & CEO, Susie Branagan Consulting LLC
Clinical perspective for healthcare technology companies, healthcare organizations, and the stages where healthcare's future gets debated.
What I do & why I do it
I watched too many good nurses leave.
Not because they couldn't handle the work, but because the systems they worked in were never designed to protect them. I became obsessed with one question: what would it look like if healthcare actually took care of its people? That question became my life's work.
Because nurses deserve someone in their corner
I have taken blows — physical and mental — so my staff could have a break. I know what it costs to give everything to the work.
Because I have been in the executive room too
I have sat in rooms where decisions about patients were made by people who had never worked at the bedside. I refuse to let that continue without a voice from the floor.
I've been the nurse sobbing alone, holding dead children in my arms in the dark, waiting for transport to the morgue, with no one checking on me. I've been the manager taking blows physically and mentally so that my staff can have a break. And I've been the executive in rooms where decisions were made about patients by people who had never worked as a healthcare worker.
Why it matters to you
What that experience buys a client.
Clinical credibility is not a line on a bio. It is the ability to predict what will happen to your product, your policy, or your rollout when it meets a person who is already at capacity.
01
I can tell you what your users won't
For technology companiesClinicians are trained to make broken systems work and to stay quiet about it. That is why your satisfaction data looks fine while adoption quietly stalls. I know the workarounds because I invented some of them.
02
I know what leadership actually controls
For healthcare organizationsHaving managed units and sat at the executive table, I can separate what a chief nursing officer can genuinely change this quarter from what requires a board conversation — and build the plan accordingly.
03
I speak both languages
For everyoneEngineering, commercial, and clinical teams routinely use the same words to mean different things. Translation between them is not a soft skill. It is usually where the value is lost.
Recognition & awards
A career built on showing up fully — and being recognized for it.
ICF Scholarship Recipient
“The ICF scholarship validated something I already knew: coaching is a clinical skill as much as it is a leadership one. Healthcare workers carry a unique kind of trauma.”
Featured quote on sensitivity and advocacy
“All those times I was called too sensitive — I realized those people only said that because they didn't have answers, and I was vocal. Showing emotion when advocating is a healthy, normal response. It's a gift.”
Feature article
Recognized as a leader changing the conversation around nurse wellness and the culture that surrounds it.
Published author
“Building Sanctuary: Creating Trauma-Informed Workplaces to Heal Burnout and Secondary Trauma in Behavioral Health.” Read it
Invited speaker
A candid, story-driven talk on nurse burnout, workplace trauma, and what it really takes to build a healthcare culture where people stay. Watch
Certifications
BSN, Saint Anselm College. Just Culture Certified Trainer. Yellow and White Belt performance improvement certifications. Abuse Prevention Systems certification. Member: Academy of Forensic Nursing, Organization of Nurse Leaders, International Coaching Federation.
Additional recognitions and features are added here as they are published.
Work together
Bring the frontline into the room.
Advisory engagements, culture work, and speaking. Start with a thirty-minute conversation about what you are actually trying to solve.