Gaps in care set ASU grad on a new career trajectory
Kristen Bish's autoimmune disorder is her superpower. It uniquely qualifies her to coordinate care and help others navigate the health care system. Photo courtesy of Kristen Bish.
Editor’s note: This story is part of a series of profiles of notable spring 2025 graduates.
Kristen Bish hasn’t had much control over her life these past five years, which is why completing her degree in health care coordination at ASU’s Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation this spring is such a major achievement.
“I was perfectly healthy until 2019 when I got the parainfluenza virus, and that caused my body to start spasming,” she said. “It started in my diaphragm and intercostal muscles, then slowly spread throughout my body.”
Today, Bish has limited mobility and uses a wheelchair to get around. And while her official diagnosis is an unspecified autoimmune disorder, her outlook is specifically positive.
Her determination and self-described “strong-headed nature” are assets in this battle, and the one thing she has control over is her attitude. It’s what kept her going in college after facing these health complications, which required her to change majors from nursing to health care coordination.
“What I loved most about nursing was the patient advocacy and education component. I know the impact advocacy and education can have on your health outcomes and care. And so that’s what got me into health care coordination. As I’ve been in the program, I’ve fallen in love with it,” she said.
The program is offered through ASU Online, making it an accessible option on multiple fronts for the Tucson native. “It’s been phenomenal because while I’ve been in the hospital, I’ve still been able to keep up with my assignments,” she said.
As difficult as the last five years have been, Bish said that pursuing this degree and staying in school has kept her “sane” because it’s given her purpose and a glimpse at her future.
“Even when I was in the hospital or bedridden, I was still accomplishing things. It’s shown me that if I can handle 18 credits in a semester — technically 56 hours a week — then working a full-time remote job with my health issues will actually feel like a break!”
Below, Bish reflects on her time at ASU, the lessons she learned and her plans for life after graduation.
Question: What was your “aha” moment, when you realized you wanted to study the field you majored in?
Answer: It was sort of the culmination of my personal experience combined with what I learned in nursing school. I personally saw it as a patient and then I saw it as a whole from the provider standpoint, because everyone is overworked. What I recognized was the need for this health care coordinator role to really be there. Then, when I left nursing school and was trying to figure out what to do next, health care coordination stuck out to me, as I could see the need from a personal and professional point of view.
Q: What’s something you learned while at ASU — in the classroom or otherwise — that surprised you or changed your perspective?
A: I knew a lot more about hospital systems and not much about community health, and through the health care coordination program, I’ve built a passion for this important work. I have an awareness of the needs of our communities and underserved groups, for so many different reasons and it’s opened my eyes.
Before, I was solely set on working in a hospital, but now I want to work in the community and be able to connect people with resources and educate people about primary prevention and the impact and difference that can make.
Q: Which professor taught you the most important lesson while at ASU?
A: One thing the large majority of my professors at ASU taught me was to believe in myself and to remember I know more than I think I do. They taught me not to count myself out due to my disability, and that my experience in the health care system is something that uniquely qualifies me to coordinate care and help others navigate the system.
They were some of my biggest cheerleaders as I faced hospitalizations and surgeries. While I didn’t need to take many extensions or use many accommodations, they were more than happy to work with me to help me succeed. An example of that is Dr. (Therese) Speer, who worked with me months in advance to try to help me find an internship program that I’d be able to do 100% remotely, even though that’s not the "normal" setup. While the internship class is not required, and I could have taken a different class to get the credit, I wanted to do it to gain experience, and she supported me every step of the way in finding one and navigating some of the challenges that came with it.
This also ties back to one of the reasons I chose to stay at ASU when I was at a crossroads and left the RN program at the community college and the RN to BSN at ASU. It was because of the professors and how kind and accommodating they were around my disability, and how well the SAILS program is set up.
Q: If someone gave you $40 million to solve one problem on our planet, what would you tackle?
A: Right now, there’s only a handful of hospital systems that have health care coordinators on the actual unit, so they’re on the unit being the advocate for the patient. Elsewhere, the vast majority of that work, calling doctors, helping educate the patients, making sure PT, OT and everyone are on the same page, all of that is falling to the nurses. It’s no secret that nurses are understaffed and overworked, and so they don’t always have the capacity to do this as well as they would like for all of their patients.
My dream is for care coordinators to be on every unit in every hospital and to advocate for their patients. This would ensure everyone is on the same page, patients are heard and there is extra support for nursing, case management and the whole team.
I want to be the person who is there for the patient. Especially for people who don’t have families who can advocate for them, as it seems they often fall through the cracks.
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