wrote one of the most powerful and poignant stories we've ever pub-
lished, "What It's Like to Be a Bariatric Surgery Patient"
(osmag.net/mWJhS8), in which she chronicled her experience undergoing
gastric bypass surgery. You wouldn't know it now, but Nancy once
weighed as much as 295 pounds.
Nancy hung up her scrubs for good on New Year's Eve, retiring from
the BayCare Health System in Clearwater, Fla., where for several
years she was the director of 3 surgery centers. About 1
1
⁄2 years ago,
she transitioned to a part-time role, manager of ASC education and
quality. Nancy turns 70 in March and says "it seemed like the right
time" to retire.
Nursing runs in the family genes. Her mother and daughter, both
Peggies, were called to nursing, mom an LPN by waiver during World
War II and daughter an ER nurse and budding entrepreneur in
Australia.
Nancy's had a remarkable career, the kind you'd expect from some-
one with a 3-page CV and a 7-page resume. She's best known for her
bright pink textbook, Ambulatory Surgical Nursing, first published in
1993, nearly 700 pages on the art and science of caring for patients
who undergo same-day surgery.
"Mostly people think of me as the one who wrote the book," says Ms.
Burden. "They called it the pink bible. People still tell me that's what
got them through the CPAN [Certified Post Anesthesia Nurse] exam.
That's lovely praise."
She's opened 5 freestanding surgery centers, her first in 1984 when
ASCs were just starting to dot the healthcare landscape. She fondly
remembers flying by the seat of her scrubs with 5 of her friends, never
having worked in an operating room but having to order all the OR
equipment. They'd work their normal hospital jobs till 4 p.m., get
together and work on the surgery center until midnight. "Those were
J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 6 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 9