Nurse Residency Program Profile – Kylie Kwak
VA Pacific Islands Health Care System (VAPIHCS) is excited to help train the medical professionals of tomorrow.
Staff in all areas of health care train at VA locations across the country, and VAPIHCS has training programs for many different medical specialties. VAPIHCS is very proud to offer Nurse Residency programs, both at the post-baccalaureate and nurse practitioner level. One VAPIHCS resident in the nurse practitioner residency program -Kylie Kwak- shared her story.
“I have several Veterans in my family and have worked with many Veterans in my previous RN job and NP school rotations,” Kwak said. “Working with Veterans allows me to understand their unique experiences, and it gives me a chance to give back to those who have served.”
Kwak is a local who graduated from Kaiser High School in Hawaii Kai. After graduating with her DNP from University of Hawaii at Manoa, she was excited to find a residency program with VAPIHCS. Kwak said that the residency program is a great chance to learn and ask questions, and that she hopes to work at VAPIHCS after her residency.
“Our program director Hollie is an advocate for all of us residents,” Kwak said. “I was born at Tripler, and I always remember looking up at the ‘big pink palace’ on the hill as a child; kind of coming full circle in a way working on the same campus now.”
The residency programs are part of the Department of Veterans Affairs commitment to education. VA trains 70% of medical staff in the United States for some part of their education. This is part of why VA health care is so important. In the VAPIHCS nurse residency program, nurses get to experience a variety of care models by rotating through different clinics and different services.
“I did a rotation on the Big Island with home-based primary care,” Kwak said. “I’m going to do a rotation in mental health soon. It’s good to get the opportunity to work with different services and to see how care works from other perspectives. My preceptors in each rotation have been very helpful.”
In addition to clinical studies and classroom studies, residents also participate in a quality improvement project or evidence-based practice project. Kwak focused on enhancing provider education regarding the use of the PREVENT risk calculator, a tool designed to assess cardiovascular risk in patients. This project highlights the importance of educating clinical staff to improve the accuracy of screenings and risk estimation, thereby guiding them in making informed clinical decisions and providing the best possible care to Veterans.
“My mom was a nurse for many years” Kwak said. “I saw the impact she had on others, which inspired me to make a difference as well. Her skill and capability in managing multiple emergent medical situations within our own family really influenced my decision to pursue a career in nursing.”
The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) conference in 2025 will be held in San Diego. VAPIHCS nurse residents are excited to attend. It’s one of the many learning opportunities that nurse residents get at VAPIHCS, and why doing a residency through VA is a great choice.